(CNN) — The Miami Heat eliminated the Boston Celtics in the NBA Eastern Conference finals on Monday, winning a decisive Game 7 103-84 to advance to the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets.
The Heat’s victory prevented the proud Celtics franchise from becoming the first NBA team to come back to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games.
Seeded eighth, Miami had to make it through the playoff tournament, but hasn’t let its underdog status influence its impressive playoff run thus far.
Against Boston on Monday, Miami forward Jimmy Butler led with 28 points, while forward Caleb Martin had 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Boston shot a frigid 39% shooting from the field as a team, and neither Celtic managed to score 20 points in the game.
Many teams have tried, some have come close, but in the end all have failed to achieve the comeback of all comebacks, scoring 0 of 151 attempts.
Most of the teams that lost 0-3 didn’t even get that far.
The New York Knicks forced a Game 7 in the 1951 NBA Finals against the Rochester Royals, the Denver Nuggets came to the brink in the 1994 Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz, and the Portland Trail Blazers nearly made history. in the first round of the 2003 Western Conference against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Heat, who have won three NBA titles, most recently in 2013, will face the top-seeded Nuggets in Denver on Thursday.
The Nuggets haven’t played for a week after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals on Monday.
How did we get here
Erik Spoelstra’s team disposed of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round before winning a war of attrition against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Despite Boston’s impressive regular season record, the No. 2 seed struggled during the postseason. The Celtics needed six games to get past the seventh-seeded Atlanta Hawks and another seven to get past the Philadelphia 76ers.
This led to the Heat and Celtics meeting in the Eastern Conference finals. The series has been an incredible display of drama and tension, with comings and goings at all times.
The Heat took a 3-0 lead in the series thanks to incredible performances from Butler and Miami’s supporting cast.
Butler has been one of the stars of the NBA postseason and continued in that form during the first games of the series against the Celtics.
Tyler Herro’s absence due to injury forced coach Erik Spoelstra to look for other alternatives to support his star. Thus, Gabe Vincent and Martin have given the stature in decisive moments and throughout the entire series.
Players Gabe Vincent and Caleb Martin were decisive for the Miami Heat. (Credit: Isaac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images)
However, the Celtics won Games 4 and 5 handily, with Jayson Tatum showing his brilliance in win-or-go-home games. Back-to-back losses brought Boston to Miami for Game 6, the most decisive of the series to date.
Buoyed by the support from their home crowd, it seemed the Heat had finally regained momentum and had enough steam to become Eastern Conference champions.
The Heat led by one point with three seconds left, but with the ball in Boston’s hands, it was far from over. As Marcus Smart tried to hit the game-winning 3-pointer, the ball bounced off the rim and Derrick White hit a rebounding basket that gave the Celtics the win.
“I felt good. Everyone was asking me, ‘Did you get it?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I think so,’ but it’s been so close you never know,” White told reporters. “We are happy to have won. However, we had to do it, we did it and now we go to Game 7.”
Unfortunately for the Celtics, the Game 7 hill was again too steep to climb.
— CNN’s Steve Almasy and Kevin Dotson contributed to this report.
2023-05-30 04:45:00
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