Boston dominates the Td Garden challenge with a great collective performance (4 over 20 points), Butler does not affect and the Heat go home for game-6 “forced” to close it to avoid the specter of a historic comeback from 0-3
The Celtics are alive and in game-5 they send a message to the series: if there is a team that can challenge history by becoming the first in 151 playoff series to overturn a 0-3 this could be Boston. In the fifth match of the Eastern Conference final, the green-and-whites dominated in front of their fans (111-97) from the first to the last minute, showing a clear superiority, finishing with 4 players of the quintet over 20 points (White, Tatum, Smart and Brown ). Second match-point therefore wasted for the Heat who will now have to manage the pressure of game-6, scheduled in Miami at 2.30 between Saturday and Sunday, a match that becomes inside or outside also for the Heat who certainly don’t want to go back to Boston for a possible Game-7.
no vincent
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Bad news arrives immediately for coach Spoelstra who has to give up an important player like Gabe Vincent, out with a problem with his left ankle. Lowry goes in the quintet but the match is immediately uphill for the away team who can’t handle Boston’s offensive gusts in the first minutes. Tatum and his teammates, exalted by a very noisy Td Garden, immediately find rhythm from long distance and put great pressure right from the duo on the Miami defense. The turnovers of the visiting team facilitate the task of the Celtics who take less than four minutes to reach +15. When Boston defends with discipline and consistently finds the basket from long range, it becomes a really tough opponent for everyone and Miami struggles to get back into the match. Butler lives an anonymous evening on an offensive level, Duncan Robinson alone is not enough for the Heat who stay away and never really give the impression of being able to reopen a Celtics match. Boston begins to soil its percentages in the second quarter but the defensive intensity remains high and the home team thus reaches the break 17 lengths ahead after a really solid first half.
automatic pilot
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There’s no joking against Miami and a consistent lead at halftime can’t be enough to put the player on autopilot, a lesson Boston proves to have learned by tending to concentrate very high even in the third period. Tatum and White continue to hurt the defense of the Heat, Butler, however, fails to play the role of Superman seen in this postseason. Miami thus remains very far away and at the beginning of the fourth period the game loses interest. Boston touches the more than comfortable +24 in the initial minutes of the final fraction, Spo then understands that it’s time to think about game-6 and brings Butler back to the bench, the rest is “garbage time”. The Heat can’t make any more mistakes on Saturday in Miami, the idea of returning to Boston for game 7, after being ahead 3-0 in the series, is not at all attractive.
Boston: White 24 (2/3, 6/8, 2/3 tl), Smart 23, Tatum, Brown 21. Rebounds: Horford 11. Assists: Tatum 11.
You love me: Robinson 18 (5/7, 2/3, 2/2 tl), Adebayo 16, Highsmith 15. Rebounds: Adebayo 8. Assists: Robinson 9.
May 26 – 07:18
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