Derrick White scored a career-high 38 factors, Jayson Tatum added 20 factors and 10 rebounds, and the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Warmth 102-88 on Monday night time to take a 3-1 lead of their Jap Convention first-round sequence.
Jaylen Brown scored 17 factors and Jrue Vacation had 11 for the top-seeded Celtics, who misplaced Kristaps Porzingis within the first half to what the staff mentioned was a proper calf harm. Boston received at Miami for the sixth straight time and improved to 14-3 of their final 17 video games on the Warmth’s residence flooring.
Bam Adebayo completed with 25 factors, 17 rebounds and 5 assists for Miami, which had a sellout crowd — together with Lionel Messi — however performed once more with out injured starters Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (neck). The Warmth managed solely 84 factors in Sport 3 and struggled once more on offense in Sport 4. Tyler Herro scored 19 factors and Caleb Martin had 18 for the eighth-seeded Warmth.
The Celtics can advance to the second spherical on Wednesday after they host Sport 5. The Boston-Miami winner will meet the Cleveland-Orlando winner within the East semifinals; that Cavaliers-Magic sequence will not finish till no less than Friday.
However the Celtics now have an harm concern, with Porzingis lifting his jersey over his face in exasperation after getting damage late within the first half. And with 5:04 left, the drama ramped up once more when Tatum tried to shoot a 3-pointer after a foul was known as. Adebayo defended the dead-ball play, and Tatum rolled his left ankle — however stayed within the sport — after Adebayo stepped into his touchdown space. Referees known as a flagrant-1 on Adebayo, and a technical on Al Horford.
The excellent news for Boston: Historical past says this sequence is nearly over.
That is the twenty ninth time a Boston staff has taken a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven sequence. The Celtics received all 28 of the earlier sequence, together with seven instances within the NBA Finals and a first-round sequence towards Miami in 2010 — the final video games the Warmth performed earlier than luring LeBron James and Chris Bosh to South Florida and forming a superteam round Dwyane Wade.
Miami simply could not sustain on this one. White had 16 factors within the first quarter, when the Celtics constructed a 34-24 lead. And it doesn’t matter what the Warmth did on protection, the offense could not make up any gaps.
Contemplate: The Celtics had 34 factors after 12 minutes, and it took the Warmth nearly 23 minutes — almost the complete first half — to hit the 34-point mark. Miami had solely 59 factors by means of three quarters, matching a season low set in Sport 1 of this sequence at Boston.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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