The Miami Heat are returning their talents to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.
Eastern Conference finals Most Valuable Player Jimmy Butler scored 28 points, and Caleb Martin had 26 points and ten rebounds to help the eighth-seeded Heat beat Boston 103-84 in Game 7 on Monday night and advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.
“What happened last year was on our mind, and it drove us this year,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That is what you always hope for competition that it can drive you to a higher level. That is what you saw in this series this year.”
This trip to the Finals was unpredictable and historic.
It was the first game seven won in the Heat’s franchise history.
The Heat are the first play-in tournament team and the second eighth seed to advance to the NBA Finals since the 1999 New York Knicks.
Derrick White shot with 0.1 saves Boston Celtics season forcing Game 7 hosting Miami Heat
Heat are heading back to the NBA Finals for the seventh time in their 35-year franchise history.
“It feels amazing,” Martin said. “All the work we put in that got us to this moment. We are still locked in trying to get four more.”
What an unpredictable run by the Heat. The Heat had to recover after losing the play-in opener against Atlanta and beat Chicago in a second-chance play-in. They eliminated the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in five games, then the fifth-seeded Knicks in six.
Miami recovered from blowing a 3-0 lead in the series and advanced to face the Western Conference champion Denver Nuggets.
Game 1 is Thursday night in Denver, where the top-seeded Nuggets have been waiting since sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers on May 22..
Jayson Tatum, who scored a Game 7 record 51 points against the Philadelphia 76ers in the conference semis, had 14 points with 11 rebounds after turning his ankle on the game’s first play and limping through 42 minutes.
Jaylen Brown scored 19 with eight rebounds but went 1 for 9 from 3-point range and committed eight turnovers. Game 6 hero Derrick White scored 18 for Boston.
“It’s one of the best locker rooms I have been a part of, ” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. ” The guys cared; they gave it everything they had. It is the most important thing. We did not achieve our goal; we did not win. ”
The Celtics led by five points early before conceding a 14-4 run to end the first quarter and then giving up 16 of the first 22 points in the second. The Heat pulled away entirely in the second half.
Celtics were hoping to become the first NBA team in 151 tries to advance after falling behind 0-3.
The beat goes on, Celtics gone fishing, four more to go for the Heat.
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