By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Miami Heat overcame home court disadvantage and erupted in the most perfect time of the Eastern Conference finals series after demolishing the Boston Celtics, 103-84, in Game 7 of the ongoing NBA Playoffs last May 30, 2023.
With the win, Miami survived a late Boston comeback after nearly blowing their 3-0 series lead to set up a highly-anticipated grand finals matchup against the Western Conference kings Denver Nuggets.
Despite a demoralizing Game 6 loss after Derrick White’s buzzer-beating game-winner, Miami’s tremendous mental toughness rose to the occasion and just played their brand of basketball in front of a hostile Boston crowd.
It wasn’t the start that the Heat wanted after only scoring four points in the first five minutes of the game and were cold with their offensive sets that helped Boston clinch an early 9-4 advantage.
However, after Gabe Vincent hit a perimeter jump shot from the left elbow, Miami began to wake up and shook off their jitters to blitz their way to a 22-15 first-quarter lead.
Caleb Martin, one of the most celebrated undrafted players of the Miami organization who turned into a reliable scoring threat, set the tone immediately after scoring five quick points to help the Heat regain momentum.
Haywood Highsmith then kicked off Miami’s second-quarter surge after picking Jayson Tatum’s pocket which resulted in an easy deuce after Kyle Lowry dimed the ball back to him in transition.
Miami’s little details and defensive stops won them two-straight quarters heading into the second half and grabbed an 11-point lead entering the third quarter.
When Boston needed someone to get going after the Heat opened up the third frame on a high note, White once again answered the call for the green nation after single-handedly carrying the Celtics back into the ball game.
White’s crucial three-pointer, foul-counted play, and free throws trimmed Miami’s double-digit lead to just seven points and again looked to become the Heat’s kryptonite like what he did in Game 6.
However, Miami got their own version of a microwave scorer in the name of Martin and responded with five-straight markers in the last 35 seconds of the third to balloon the Heat’s lead back to 10 points, 76-66.
Veteran point guard and former NBA champion Kyle Lowry also played a great game for the Heat and halted a Boston run with eight minutes left after drilling a contested fade-away shot over Jaylen Brown to help maintain their double-digit lead.
Miami then just sent the early exclamation point after establishing a 21-7 run that built their largest lead of the game up to 21 points.
The Celtics did what they could to come back with just six minutes left but Miami was just firing from all cylinders and showed that they were the hungrier team to clinch a seat in the NBA finals.
Jimmy Butler led all scorers with 28 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals while Martin chipped in 26 markers, 10 rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
Despite a hobbled performance for Tatum who injured his ankle in the opening quarter, he still was able to put up a double-double performance of 14 points and 11 boards while Brown dropped 19.
