Down nine early in the third quarter on Tuesday, down 3-0 in the series, the Boston Celtics knew their season was completely on the brink — three minutes later, everything looked different.
Jayson Tatum had 33 points and 11 rebounds, Jaylen Brown added 17 points and the Celtics staved off elimination in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals by running away in the second half to beat the Miami Heat 116-99 in Game 4.
“We were just trying to save our season,” Tatum said.
Photo: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY
They most definitely found a way to do that. The two big differences: a 30-point edge for the Celtics on three-pointers, and an 18-0 run in that three-minute, third-quarter spurt that changed the game and — they hope — might end up changing the series.
“We can’t relax,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We have to keep the same level of intensity, the same mindset, the same focus in the next game.”
Derrick White scored 16 points, Grant Williams had 14, Al Horford added 12 and Marcus Smart scored 11 for the Celtics, who still trail the series 3-1 — but sent it back to Boston for a Game 5 tonight.
Jimmy Butler scored 29 for Miami, which was outscored 48-22 in a 14-minute stretch that turned the game — and perhaps the series — completely around. Boston would also host Game 7 as well if they can keep extending the series.
“Tonight we played with pace, purpose,” Tatum said. “We were getting stops. We were getting out in transition. You see layups and free throws go in, the jump shots start to feel a lot easier.”
Gabe Vincent scored 17 for Miami, Caleb Martin had 16 and Bam Adebayo added 10. The Heat shot 8 for 32 on three-pointers, while Boston was 18 for 45.
No team in NBA history has successfully rallied from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series; 150 have tried, 150 have failed.
Still, the Celtics gave themselves hope.
“We don’t really have a choice,” Mazzulla said. “It’s do-or-die. Got to stick together.”
The Heat led by as many as nine points in the opening quarter, kept the lead for the majority of the first half and were up by nine again when Max Strus connected on a three-pointer early in the third quarter.
That was the moment where Boston’s season was at stake, and the Celtics responded — most emphatically.
The 18-0 run took Boston from down nine to up nine, a huge turnaround that took 3 minutes, 3 seconds. The Celtics were 6 of 7 from the floor during the run, 4 of 4 from three-point range, Tatum had nine of the 18 points and just like that the defending East champions — who won three playoff games on Miami’s home floor in last year’s playoffs — were rolling again.
“We always say the last one to get is the hardest one to get,” Adebayo said. “I knew they would be desperate.”
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi yesterday bowed out at the Malaysia Masters, defeated in the semi-finals a day after an epic quarter-final against the highest-ranked player left in the men’s singles draw. Lin lost to Weng Hongyang of China 21-13, 21-19 after a draining match against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka a day earlier in which the second game had 59 points. The 23-year-old left-hander had won his only previous BWF match against his Chinese opponent. However, Weng booked a place in today’s final after easing past the Taiwanese battler. He faces India’s H.S. Prannoy, who advanced when Indonesia’s Christian Adinata retired while trailing 19-17 in the
Kosovo Olympic authorities have asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to open disciplinary proceedings against Novak Djokovic, accusing the Serb of stirring up political tension by saying “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” at the French Open. Djokovic wrote the message on a camera lens following his first-round win on Monday, the same day that 30 NATO peacekeeping troops were hurt in clashes with Serb protesters in the Kosovo town of Zvecan where Djokovic’s father grew up. “Kosovo is our cradle, our stronghold, center of the most important things for our country,” 36-year-old told Serbian media. Serbian authorities said 52 protesters were wounded
Unable to sleep the night before her first-round match at the French Open against second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine checked her phone at 5am on Sunday and saw disturbing news back home in Kyiv. At least one person was killed when the capital of Kostyuk’s nation was subjected to the largest drone attack by Russia since the start of the war, launched with an invasion assisted by Belarus in February last year. “It’s something I cannot describe, probably. I try to put my emotions aside any time I go out on court. I think I’m better than
China has long been the sleeping giant of men’s tennis, but on Monday the giant stirred as Shanghai trailblazer Zhang Zhizhen advanced to the second round of Roland Garros. One of three Chinese men in the draw, Zhang became the first from the nation to win a main draw match at Roland Garros in 86 years after Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired due to illness when trailing 6-1, 4-1. Compatriots Shang Juncheng and Wu Yibing bowed out in defeat, but 26-year-old Zhang has a big chance to go further when he takes on Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante for a place in
RSS