The Miami Heat bounced back from a blowout loss in Game 2 at home by hanging on to beat the Boston Celtics 109-103 to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami raced out to a 39-18 lead after the first quarter and survived a comeback attempt by the Celtics to reclaim home-court advantage in this series.
They also did it without Jimmy Butler who missed the entire second half with knee inflammation as Bam Adebayo took over to finish with a team-high 31 points and 10 rebounds. He had some help too, as all the Heat starters except Butler managed to hit double figures for points.
All of them contributed down the stretch as well, as Miami went on a 16-8 run after the Celtics had managed to cut the lead to a single point. NBA fans were understandably on the edge of their seat and had a lot to say about how things panned out:
It was a wild one to watch, and this series has tilted a little bit in favor of the Heat as we head to Game 4. The Celtics are suddenly in must-win territory after it seemed like they had wrestled control of this series after Game 2. They will need Tatum to get back on track as he really struggled here with 10 points on 3-14 shooting and it wasted a career night from Jaylen Brown who finished with a game-high 40 points.
As for the Heat, they will be ecstatic with this win, but the Butler injury would dampen their spirits a bit. If he is fine for Game 4, then they are in a great spot here, but if he misses a couple of games, then you would have to fancy the Celtics to regain control of the series. We now await with bated breath for news on the Heat superstar.
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