FLORIDA – Boston Celtics showed its steadiness in the fourth quarter to defeat the Miami Heat, 100-96, in Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday night (Monday in the Philippines) at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida.
Holding to an 82-79 lead early in the fourth, the Celtics went on an 8-0 scoring run behind Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams, Al Horford and Marcus Smart to widen the lead to 90-79.
Boston went on to widen the lead to 98-85 on free throws by Jaylen Brown and Smart but Miami went on an 11-0 scoring run, capped by a triple by Max Strus, to cut the deficit to 96-98.
The Heat even had a chance to take the lead but Jimmy Butler fumbled on a wide open triple. Smart sealed the victory for the Celtics with two free throws.
Tatum was hailed as the Eastern Conference Finals MVP after finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal as the Celtics wrapped up the best-of-seven series at 4-3.
Smart added 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists, Smart and Williams also hit double figures on offense with 24 and 11 markers, respectively, for Boston.
This is the Celtics’ first return trip to the NBA Finals since losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010. They will face Golden State Warriors at the start of the finale on Thursday (Friday in the Philippines) at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
“’To get over the hump with this group, it means everything,” Tatum said “The road that we took to get here, not a lot of people believed in us We took the toughest route. It looked out.”
“This Game 7 against Miami) was the biggest test,” Brown added. “Not just of the year, but of our careers as well. But we gladly get over it. This is amazing.”
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 35 points, Bam Adebayo added double-double 25 markers and 11 rebounds, while Kyle Lowry contributed 15 markers and seven rebounds.
BOX SCORE:
BOSTON 100 — Tatum 26, Smart 24, Brown 24, G. Williams 11, White 8, Horford 5, R. Williams 2, Pritchard 0.
MIAMI 96 — Butler 35, Adebayo 25, Lowry 15, Oladipo 9, Strus 8, Vincent 4, Tucker 0, Herro 0.
Quarterscores: 32-17, 55-49, 82-75, 100-96./PN
