Jayson Tatum had 34 points and 11 rebounds, Derrick White and Jaylen Brown each added 16 points and the Boston Celtics avoided being eliminated from the Eastern Conference finals by escaping in the second half and beating the Miami Heat 116-99 in Game 4 on Tuesday. at night.
Grant Williams scored 14, Al Horford added 12 and Marcus Smart scored 11 for the Celtics, who still trail the series 3-1 – but will return to Boston in Game 5 on Thursday.
Jimmy Butler scored 29 for Miami, which led by as many as nine in the second half before going on a 48-22 run in 14 minutes that turned the game around. Boston will also have Game 7 under their belt if they continue to extend this streak.
Gabe Vincent scored 17 for Miami, Caleb Martin had 16 and Bam Adebayo added 10. The Heat shot eight for 32 on 3-pointers, while Boston went 19 for 45 – a huge 33-point difference in scoring from beyond the arc.
“We have to keep the same intensity, the same mentality, the same focus for the next game,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzella said.
No team in NBA history has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series; 150 try, 150 fail. But the Celtics gave themselves hope.
“We were just trying to save our season,” Tatum said.
The Heat, which led by nine points in the opening quarter, led for most of the first half and went up by nine again when Max Strus connected on a 3-pointer early in the third quarter.
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Boston season was at hand. And the Celtics responded — emphatically.
An 18-0 run took Boston from down 9 to 9, a turnaround that took only three minutes. The Celtics were six of seven from the floor during the run, four of four from 3-point range, Tatum had nine of 18 points and as they defended the East – which won three playoff games at home Miami last year. playoffs – were rolling again.
Miami got within four late in the third, only to see another lightning strike from the Celtics — this time, seven unanswered points in 40 seconds.
Boston’s edge was 88-79 going into the fourth quarter, after winning the third quarter 38-23, with 21 of those points coming on 3-pointers.
The Celtics led the whole way.
“They’re going to get us tonight,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You have to give them credit for that. There’s no doubt about it. There’s no doubt about it. We’re not surprised about it. They deserved to win tonight. We’ve got to come together and prepare for a big chance in Boston.”