Jimmy Butler, Heat rally back to earn 111-105 win over Celtics, take 2-0 series lead.
Jimmy Butler, Heat rally back to earn 111-105 win over Celtics, take 2-0 series lead.
Don't poke the bear or else you're going to find out the hard way.
The Miami Heat rallied back from yet another double-digit deficit en route to a 111-105 victory over the Boston Celtics, their second consecutive win inside TD Garden to go up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Friday marked the Heat’s sixth comeback victory this postseason when trailing by double digits.
Jimmy Butler, the bear that Grant Williams poked in the fourth quarter, led the Heat with 27 points on 12-of-25 shooting, including eight rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks in 41 minutes.
Butler finished with 15 points in the second half, including seven — with three jumpers over Williams — in the final 6:22 after Williams and Butler came forehead-to-forehead.
Miami outscored Boston 22-9 in that final stretch. You know the saying: You eff around, you’re going to find out.
Caleb Martin, who played a massive part in digging Miami out of multiple deficits with his valiant two-way effort, tallied 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting and 3-of-7 from distance. Bam Adebayo posted a near 22-point, 17-rebound triple-double, adding nine assists in 38 minutes.
Duncan Robinson tallied 15 points and knocked down three of the Heat’s nine 3-pointers off the Heat bench.
Miami only shot 45.7 percent from the floor and 9-of-26 from deep, but finished a plus-10 on the offensive glass, recorded four more second-chance points and turned the ball over five fewer times.
Boston shot 46.8 percent and 10-of-35 (28.6 percent) from deep. Jayson Tatum led the way with 34 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists on 10-of-20 shooting. Jaylen Brown tallied 16 points while Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon finished with 13 points apiece.
The Heat have now won 10 of their 13 postseason games and now head back to Kaseya Center up 2-0 against the No. 2-seeded Celtics in the East Finals. Game 3 will be Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.
Can’t remember a player demanding to go 1 on 1 against a specific player to make a point.
Superstars will get a switch to go against a weaker defender. Not Jimmy as he wanted Grant and only Grant and he’s no slouch of a defender. I’ve never seen such a thing.
The only city to ever have all four sports teams go to the championship game is 1980 Philadelphia, but only one of those teams won it all. So, the Flyers and Sixers both went to the championship that year. Only other time that got close was in 2020 Champa Bay, where all their teams made it to the finals, and two of them won it all. But, Tampa doesn't have pro basketball, so it isn't equivalent.