By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Jimmy Butler led squad fought with resiliency and heart to erase a 17-point Boston lead to complete another astonishing comeback in their Game 2 Eastern Conference Finals clash, 106-101.
It was all Boston in the first half as Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker looked to bounce back from a heartbreaking game 1 loss as they ran over the Miami defense and almost scored whenever they wanted.
The green and white had a scoring burst in the second quarter matched with their tight interior defense as off-the-bench player Enes Kanter contributed immediately and made his presence felt in the paint to finish with 9 points and 6 rebounds.
However, as the third quarter started, Miami’s pick-and-roll began to click and Boston had no answer after Bam Adebayo had a huge individual run that sparked the Heat’s comeback in the game.
Boston clawed back in the fourth and evened things up to make it a tug-of-war but Miami was able to pull away in the clutch stretch of the game behind Goran Dragic’s huge 25 points.
Jaylen Brown had a chance to tie the game with 15 seconds left but his three-pointer didn’t go in which led them to foul Butler for the game-sealing free throws.
Now down 0-2, can Boston find their magic back or will Miami continue their avalanche in this hard-fought series?
