by The Miami Heat, who played two road games in Boston to start the Eastern Conference Finals, are just one win away from the NBA Finals after beating the Boston Celtics in Game 3, at home, 128-102. .
Last year, after a back-and-forth series, the Celtics eliminated the Heat in seven games. Now, Miami has its chance for revenge.
And Game 4 will be in Florida.
The Heat have loved playing at home this postseason, winning all three home games during their second-round series with the New York Knicks and they kept up their momentum Sunday night.
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Cody Zeller #44 of the Miami Heat defends against Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics during the second quarter of game three of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Kaseya Center on May 21, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The Heat got off to a good start, winning the first quarter 30-22 and then heading into halftime with a solid 61-48 lead.
As the Heat have shown, they’re a second-half team that can make teams pay with explosive third-quarter production. Once again, that was the case, and the Celtics had no answer.
Miami outscored Boston 32-17 in the third quarter, and the recipe for success was something that became apparent throughout these playoffs: The Heat have scorers everywhere on the floor.
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Normally all eyes are on Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, but this game saw six different Heat players score in double figures, including Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson off the bench. In fact, they had 11 and 10 points respectively to set the tone in the first half. They finished with 18 points and 22, respectively.
Gabe Vincent was the team’s leading scorer, scoring 29 points on a highly efficient 11-of-14 shooting from the field, including making six 3-pointers. He had two rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block.
Butler and Adebayo also contributed to the dominating victory.
Butler had 16 points with eight rebounds and six assists while notching two steals.
Adebayo didn’t have to rebound much as Miami shot 56.8% from the field as a team. He finished with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics drives the lane against Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat during the first quarter of game three of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Kaseya Center on May 21, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The Celtics conceded when their reserves took the floor in the fourth quarter, while the starters reflected on how they let the series slip away so soon.
Jayson Tatum was among them, as he had a rough night off the ground.
After scoring 30 points in Game 1 and 34 in Game 2, Tatum scored just 14 on Sunday night.
He shot 6 of 18, including 1 of 7 from behind the three-point line. He had 10 rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
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Jaylen Brown had a similar line to her All-Star counterpart, scoring just 12 points on 6-of-17 shooting, which included missing all seven 3-point attempts.
No one else was able to pick up the slack offensively, as Al Horford, Marcus Smart and Derrick White, the rest of the starting five, were all in single digits in the points column.
The only negative that took away from Miami was veteran forward Kevin Love not returning after an apparent injury during the game.
Caleb Martin #16 and Duncan Robinson #55 of the Miami Heat react during the second quarter against the Boston Celtics in game three of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Kaseya Center on May 21, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
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Game 4 of the series begins Tuesday at 8:30 pm ET in Miami, and Boston will have to win if it wants to defend its Eastern Conference championship.
