Nba, Miami-Boston 2-0: Butler super against Grant Williams

Miami resists, persists and conquers. The heroic victory in game 2, the second in a row at the TD Garden in Boston, is worth the incredible 2-0 in the series for the men brilliantly coached by coach Erik Spoelstra, who are now only two wins away from the NBA Finals and will play the next two games of the series at home (game 3 on the Italian night between Sunday 21 and Monday 22 May at 2:30).

We must start from the epilogue, probably, to find a narrative key to this extraordinary triumph of the Heat. Because when Grant Williams, just 7 minutes from the end of the game, scores the triple for the 96-87 Celtics, he decides to go and celebrate the play by saying one too many words in Jimmy Butler’s face. Now, it is said that this has not necessarily complicated things for Boston in an irreparable way but it certainly ignited the pride and competitive spirit of the Miami Heat star. The last one you should go teasing. And so, after that episode, Butler takes the scene with arrogance and personality. He silences the TD Garden crowd by scoring some baskets of his, the ones that rip the heart out of the opponent’s chest and throw it away. He goes nose to nose with Grant Williams and doing it with him actually gets in the way of the whole city of Boston. The comrades, as usual, get carried away by him.

THE TURNOVER

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The Heat unleash a 24-9 run that changes the fate of a game that seemed to have taken the direction of the NBA runners-up. It seemed, indeed. Because after Jimmy’s star-studded reaction, Bam Adebayo’s decisive baskets also arrived, a monstrous dunk after forcefully capturing the offensive rebound, and Gabe Nnamdi Vincent, a wonderful step back jumper to see again and again. And now the Celtics will have to come back from 2-0 a team that doesn’t have the slightest intention of being comeback and that doesn’t show any technical-tactical fracture or signs of mental fragility in its way of interpreting basketball. Butler posted a 27-point, 8-rebound, 6-assist, 3-steal, 2-block performance in 41 minutes. Adebayo added 22 points, 17 rebounds and 9 assists, while a sensational Caleb Martin produced 25 points on 11/16 shooting off the bench.

Celtics disappointment

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There are perhaps a couple of numbers that can ruthlessly paint the details of this very painful Celtics defeat in game 2, namely those that tell the performance of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in the 4th period, clearly lost by Boston 36-22. In the final quarter, Tatum shot 0/3 with three turnovers while Brown went 1/5 with one turnover. But let’s stop here. because we absolutely mustn’t make the mistake of simplifying the analysis by pointing to the two Celtics stars as responsible for the defeat. This statistic tells us that Boston was aggressively and mentally attacked in the last 7′ of the game. He has lost certainties, trust and, above all, identity. And not even Tatum (34 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists) and Brown (16 points, 7/23 shooting and 1/7 from three) were saved. Not even their talent, which has always marked the difference in key moments, could change things. They all ended up in the lethal vortex of the Heat, who had never given up and were just waiting for the right spark to attempt the impossible. And perhaps that spark was Williams’ celebration in Butler’s face, after scoring a triple that seemed to have given a possibly lethal shoulder to the Heat. It seemed, indeed. Because for Jimmy Butler, appearances don’t matter. They never counted in his whole life.

Boston: Tatum 34 (10/20, 3/10 from three, 11/12 ls), Brown 16, R. Williams/Brogdon 13. Rebounds: Tatum 13. Assists: Tatum 8.

You love me: Butler 27 (12/25, 0/1 from three, 3/3 lugs), Martin 25, Adebayo 22. Rebounds: Adebayo 17. Assists: Adebayo 9.