Los Boston Celtics do not repeat past mistakes. The best team of the NBA regular season perhaps remembered some ghost after its dismal second game of the first round series against the Miami Heat. They wanted to play the game of Erik Spoelstra and his people, and the bet did not pay off. It was time to go back to the basics, and the Celtics fulfilled with the arrival of the series at the Kaseya Center in the state of Florida. Two beatings, the second (88-102) leaving the pass very much on track (3-1) to the second round (semifinals) of the Playoffs.
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Los Celtics passed through Miami like a hurricane, a field where in 2023-24 they have not lost a game after his legendary (and lost) series last year. In the first quarter (24-34, 12′) they opened a large margin and the difference continued to grow. 14 triples, rebound dominance (44 for 42) and all their stars at the highest level.
Although the main role was Derrick White, with 38 points (15/26 TC and 8/15 T3), 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks. It sums up, in a way, what the Celtics are. Anyone can take charge. “On any given night we can have a guy like that breaking out and winning a playoff game,” Jayson Tatum said.
On any given night we can have a guy breaking out and winning a playoff game.
Jayson Tatum
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Their attack, as always, showed balance. Because in addition to White, Tatum (20+11), Brown (17) and Holiday (11) signed double figures. The only one who was far away was Kristaps Porzingis, since he was injured. He stepped on Herro and bent his left foot. There was fear of an Achilles injury which, fortunately, did not occur.. “If he’s not there, nothing changes. We have the same mentality, intention, toughness and details for the next game,” explained Joe Mazzulla, his coach.
Miami was far away. Adebayo posted some impressive numbers (25 points and 17 rebounds), Herro accompanied with 19, but did not reach the degree of perfection that was the second match of the tie. The miracle of Miami is quite far from being real again.
