By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
That’s how a Game 7 should play out.
Thrilling, back-and-forth, both teams answered each other with their own runs.
For all the marbles, it was the Boston Celtics who pulled off the much-needed stops in the crucial end game and edged the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, 100-96, to set up a highly anticipated Finals clash against the Golden State Warriors.
The Celtics kicked off the duel with the much-needed sense of urgency in front of a hostile Miami crowd as superstar Jayson Tatum immediately caught fire and drained two big three-pointers that put his team in an early 16-7 lead.
During the Boston huddle, head coach Ime Udoka kept on emphasizing their need to push the ball and force fast breaks to counter Miami’s set defensive schemes which they did flawlessly as Tatum and Jaylen Brown earned early trips to the charity stripe due to their aggressiveness of going to the hole.
With Boston finishing the first 12 minutes in a convincing 32-17 lead, Jimmy Butler knew it was his time to shine and started to carry the Heat offense on his back and cut the Celtics’ lead to just six, 55-49, at the half.
Butler had another stellar first half after finishing the first two quarters with 24 points on an impressive 8/11 shooting from the field and didn’t miss a single shot during the second period.
It was a dogfight the whole second half as Miami always opened the first few minutes with several offensive spurts but Boston would come back with their own mini-run.
Both teams failed to take full control of the pace of the game, but Boston’s transition play always killed Miami whenever they attempted to snowball a run.
Boston’s 20 fast break points proved to be the main difference as they still applied the same philosophy that head coach Udoka instilled at the start of the pivotal rubber match.
After grabbing every rebound, Boston pushed the ball as fast as they could that put Miami in foul trouble in the last two quarters, a thing that Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra tried to counter by sending in a faster lineup of Gabe Vincent, Kyle Lowry, Bam Adebayo, Victor Oladipo, and Butler but still failed to match their speed.
Things became interesting in the final canto as Miami quickly trimmed Boston’s lead to just three, 82-79, off Butler and Adebayo’s deuces.
As Miami started to gain ground, the Celtics again weathered the storm and never gave up the lead in the next nine minutes of the ball game.
Tatum’s big baskets sparked the Celtics and answered every Miami run built from a terrific fade-away shot in the right elbow with the shot clock winding down and another buzzer-beating trey that silenced the Heat crowd.
With Miami trailing by five with 50 seconds left, Max Struss found his stroke in the perfect time after swishing in one from downtown to bring the Heat back within two points, 98-96 that capped off an 11-2 run in the final two minutes.
However, that Struss shot was Miami’s last basket made in the game. Butler had the chance to give the Heat the lead or tie the game with 16 seconds left but his stop-and-pop three-pointer went short which resulted in a Boston defensive board.
Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart then iced the game and buried two clutch free throws to extend the Boston’s lead to four.
Struss had a chance to cut the Boston lead to a point, but his three-point shot off a timeout missed again that saw the green and white colors advance to the finals.
The Celtics were led by Tatum’s 26-point close-out performance and were backstopped by Brown and Smart’s 24-apiece.
Meanwhile, Butler was once again the top-scorer for the Heat with 35 big points while Adebayo bounced back with a 25-point outing but was not enough to deliver a win.
This is Boston’s return to the NBA finals stage since 2010 and will be facing Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green for the coveted title.
