Bam Adebayo, with a double-double of 31 points and ten rebounds, led the Miami Heat this Saturday in a 109-103 win against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden that gave Erik Spoelstra’s team a 2-1 lead. in the NBA Eastern Conference finals. After being completely outplayed in the second game, which ended with a 127-102 victory for the Celtics, the Heat vindicated themselves with a victory of character in the Garden, despite losing their leader Jimmy Butler due to a problem in his right knee that forced him to retire after the break.
Adebayo, who had not been decisive in the first two games of the series, had 31 points, ten rebounds and six assists to launch the Heat against a Celtics who, after losing by 26 points in the second quarter, had managed to get close until just one point in the last period.
If Butler only scored eight points in 19 minutes on the court, Miami could count on the solid return of PJ Tucker (17 points and seven rebounds), who was in doubt for this appointment due to discomfort, and Kyle Lowry (eleven points, six assists, four steals), who had not played since May 9 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Miami managed to tame some Celtics who at times savored the idea of ??an epic comeback to the rhythm of Jaylen Brown, author of 40 points, his best record in the ‘playoffs’, with nine rebounds, and the Dominican Al Horford, who contributed a double- double of 20 points and fourteen rebounds.
Tatum was contained by the aggressive defense of the Heat and did not exceed ten points, six rebounds and four assists.
Hurt by the resounding loss suffered two days ago at home, the Heat came out to bite and, pushed by 16 points from a fantastic Bam Adebayo, they came to have a 26-point lead early in the second period at 46-20.
Adebayo, who had barely accumulated 16 points in the first two games of the series, led a Heat that dominated the Celtics on both sides of the track, with offensive percentages that exceeded 60% and great aggressiveness to stop the power offensive of Udoka’s men.
But Boston once proved to be a solid team, with courage and faith in their game. He showed it with a tremendous reaction to the rhythm of Al Horford, always ready to fight in the paint (8 rebounds in the first half) and by a Tatum who closed a 10-0 run with a three-pointer at the buzzer that cut it to fifteen points. the disadvantage to go to the locker room at halftime (62-47).
The Heat ended the period suffering from Boston’s pace and momentum and, returning after the break, were without Jimmy Butler, who was suffering from inflammation in his right knee. The absence of him, due to his technical weight and his leadership ability, left the Heat touched, although the biggest scare was for the Celtics, when Marcus Smart ended up lying on the ground screaming in pain after a very ugly sprained ankle.
The best defenseman of the year returned to the locker room helped by two members of the Celtics’ coaching staff, but, when his team seemed finished, he unleashed the euphoria of the Garden when he returned to the court.
It was he himself who connected the triple that cut the distance to ten points (72-62) in the third quarter, which forced Spoelstra’s timeout and provoked a long and heartfelt ovation from his fans.
The intensity of the match, already very high, skyrocketed in the fourth period. In the battle, Tatum had to withdraw for a few minutes with a sore right shoulder before returning to competition.
Brown, with some extraordinary plays, managed to bring the Celtics closer to a single point at 93-92 after leading a 12-0 run by Ime Udoka’s men, but his team’s naive turnovers ended up taking their toll. Strus hit a valuable 3-pointer to put Boston away and Adebayo had a career-high 29 points to give Miami an eight-point margin at 100-92.
The last lost ball came with 101-94, with a misunderstanding between Williams and Smart that gave Miami 103-94 that sentenced the game and gave Miami a transcendental victory at home.
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