NBA playoffs: Heat pass Celtics 128-102

Gabe Vincent scored a career-high 29 points, Duncan Robinson added 22 and the eighth-seeded Miami Heat earned an NBA Finals victory after outpacing the Boston Celtics 128-102 on Sunday night in the third Eastern Conference Title Series game.

Caleb Martin scored 18, Jimmy Butler finished with 16, Bam Adebayo had 13 and Max Strus added 10 for Miami, which leads the series 3-0. Every team in NBA history that has won the first three games of a best-of-seven has ultimately prevailed; the Heat are 8-0 in this situation.

Jayson Tatum scored 14 and Jaylen Brown added 12 for the Celtics, who won three times on Miami soil en route to winning last season’s Eastern Conference Finals – but simply never had a luck in this one and pretty much emptied the bench for the fourth quarter. .

Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard each had 12 for Boston. Game 4 is Tuesday in Miami.

The NBA Finals begin on June 1, and the way things are going, that could mean the league is about to go a few days without games. Western Conference Finals could end on Monday; Denver leads this series against the Los Angeles Lakers 3-0. And now the Eastern Finals could end on Tuesday.

There has never been a season where both conference finals have ended in sweeps; it happened in 1957 in the Division Finals immediately preceding the title series, when Boston beat Syracuse 3-0 and St. Louis beat Minneapolis 3-0.

Of all the 3-0 streaks in NBA history, this one might be the most unexpected — a No. 8 seed in the Heat, a team that struggled just to get into the playoffs, a team who was less than 3 minutes from being eliminated in the qualifying tournament, past top-seeded Milwaukee in five games, then fifth-seeded New York in six, and now on the verge of denying the Celtics, seeded No. 2, a second consecutive crown from the East.

And the Heat let Boston know how much they enjoyed this one.

Aware that Boston’s Al Horford directed a timeout signal to the Miami bench in Game 1 as the Celtics were on a second-quarter push to build a comfortable lead, Butler did the same with Horford as the Heat fled in the third quarter of the match. 3.

Plus, the Heat still rallied to win Game 1. There was no rally required in Game 3 by the Heat. There was barely an attempt by the Celtics, by the way.

Boston moved to 61-49 when Marcus Smart made a three-point play on the opening possession of the second half. The rest was all Miami, which immediately responded with a 28-7 run to open a 33-point lead at 89-56 that sent the building rolling. The lead was so big, and there was so much time left, that the sold-out crowd of 20,088 was actually somewhat subdued by the end.

They may have been yelled at. Or maybe they were saving him for hockey on Monday night, when the Florida Panthers — another No. 8 seed in a magical playoff run in South Florida — try to take a lead 3-0 in their Eastern final series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

ADVICE

Celtics: Robert Williams had his first shot, which means he’s gone 12 straight to start the series. He missed his second attempt. The Heat encourages fans to wear white for playoff games, and Tatum also arrived in an all-white suit. ΓǪ Smart appeared to throw a punch in the third quarter, but missed and after review umpires determined he did not deserve a flagrant foul or a technical (which would have been his second of the night).

Heat: Robinson has made five 3-pointers and now has 124 in his Heat playoff career, passing LeBron James (123) for the most in Miami history. … Butler’s steal with 7:17 left in the first quarter was the 2,000th in Heat playoff history. Shaquille O’Neal, at the game as part of the TNT broadcast team, saluted former teammate (and now Heat executive) Alonzo Mourning and received a long standing ovation when he was introduced during a timeout in the second quarter. … Vincent’s previous career high was 28, set in a Jan. 12 win over Milwaukee.

CONFUSED DOLPHINS?

Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, a regular at Heat games this season, tried to get the pregame crowd moving by waving one of the free towels. Dolphins defensive lineman Christian Wilkins was at the game – wearing green shoes on a night when Miami played the Celtics, though it should be noted that he was born in Massachusetts.

LOVE HURTS

Miami’s Kevin Love left the game at 4:47 after what the Heat said was an undisclosed ankle injury. He went to the Heat’s locker room for evaluation, returned to the bench later in the first half, and started the second half.

CITABLE

“Lack of mental toughness. It’s embarrassing…it was embarrassing for the Celtics. – TNT’s Charles Barkley at halftime, with Boston trailing 61-46 and having dropped by as much as 22 points.