One of the teams attacked the other in the fourth Eastern Conference final, and one of the strangest best 7 series in NBA’s memory these days has managed to return to Miami. I did.
The Miami Heat missed the first 14 shots on Monday night, scoring the fewest points (1) in the first nine minutes of the playoff game of the century. 102-82 loss To Boston Celtics.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics in double digits with 31 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
This is a mirror image of Game 3 on Saturday, and when the heat led 21 points by the end of the first quarter and 26 points in the first half, Miami never threatened to make a comeback in Game 4.
Instead of Derrick White, the injured Celtics guard, Marcus SmartSprained right ankle), Boston scored the first 7 points of the game on the way to the 18-1 lead. White almost beat the heat himself — and Tatam did — in the opening quarter their team won 29-11. Tatum shook his painful shot and scored 12 points each in the first two quarters, with the Celtics taking a 57-33 half-time lead.
Margin was Victor Oladipo, who scored 13 of Miami’s first 18 points and 18 of the first 28 points off the bench with a 5-7 shot (3-4 3P, 5-6 FT). It would have been worse without it. ) Over the first 21 minutes of the game. Oladipo’s teammates had only a total of 15 points in the two-quarter shooting split on 18/25/33.
Boston’s carelessness is gone. Miami scored 33 points from the Celtics’ 24 turnovers in Game 3. Boston limited these mistakes to three in the first half of Monday. BAM Adebayo, who scored 31 points for Heat High on Saturday, was absent. He had the same number of points (3) as the first 24 minute turnover of Game 4.
The return of Robert Williams at the All-Defensive Center helped the Celtics lock the paint. There, the heat tried only 14 out of 45 attempts. Boston owned the edge of the floor, even without Smart, the defensive player of the year. As a result of scouting, when Adebayo spun into the post move, two early strips occurred and he disappeared. No one cares about Jimmy Butler’s upfake, and Miami’s two best players scored 15 points.
Both Butler and Kyle Lowry suffered right knee and left hamstring injuries, respectively, but didn’t play for the last 16 minutes of Game 4 as Boston’s lead swelled to 32 points. There was also no Sixman of the Year Tyler Herro (injury at the base of the left leg) in the heat. We still don’t know how much the rest will be useful for Wednesday’s Game 5 in Miami. If the first four games are any sign, the series will be full tilt again.
The heat beat the Celtics 39-14 in the third quarter of Game 1 and 39-18 in the first quarter of Game 3. Boston won 13 of the first 15 quarters of the series, including the first half of Game 2. , And games 4, 57-33. The Celtics controlled the series when they took care of the ball and played the best defense in the NBA throughout the season, but Heat had a soul-breaking spurt.
Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8:30 pm ET in Miami. Please look forward to anything.
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Ben Rollbach I’m a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Do you have a hint? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
