Celtics Get Revenge on the Heat; Advance to Second Round of the NBA Playoffs
Boston - No Porzingis. No problem. The Boston Celtics put out the Heat with their 118-84 victory in Game Five of the playoffs. Missing a crucial part of the team, the Celtics left zero doubt on the floor with their 34-point beat down. Known for giving the Celtics trouble in the playoffs, the Heat could not compete with the top dogs of the NBA. The C’s will now await the winner of the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Orlando Magic in the next round of the NBA Playoffs.
By no surprise, the Celtics dominated the opening quarter of Game Five. Without having Jaime Jaquez Jr, due to injury, the Heat depth was at its thinnest as it has been all series. Jaylen Brown was loving his matchup against Tyler Herro, scoring all of his eight first-quarter points against him. Herro’s frustration was very apparent as he was assessed a technical foul for throwing the basketball at Payton Pritchard. As electric of a first-quarter performance we saw from Brown, Derrick White maintained his fiery stroke from his career night in Game Four. White scored 15 in the first quarter, shooting 3/4 from three. Even with 12 points coming from Bam Adebayo, the Heat trailed by 18 (41-23) at the end of the quarter. When you make eight threes in a quarter, it’s hard for any team to keep it close.
Adebayo was the only member of the Heat who was consistently able to get his own shot. Tyler Herro was not only struggling defensively but on offense as well. Ever since Game Two of this series, Herro has not played to the standard his team expects of him. It almost seems like he “sold his soul” to get that win in Boston because he has not been able to do anything since. By the 8:00 mark of the second quarter, the Celtics had already expanded their lead to 30, more than doubling the Heat’s total points. Spoelstra’s ball was not going according to plan, even though Adebayo led all scorers at halftime with 21. Derrick White and Jaylen Brown were tied with 17 points apiece and Jayson Tatum was just behind them with 15 points of his own. At the break, the Celtics had maintained their double-digit margin, leading 68-46.
The Celtics laid it on the Heat to open the third quarter. It couldn’t be more obvious that the Heat wanted to get back on their team plane and fly down to Cancun. Ever since Jimmy Butler was interviewed, about how he dislikes the media talking about how great the Celtics are, his squad has not been able to win or really even compete in a game. Both Jaylen Brown and Derrick White kept it cooking in the second half. By the end of the quarter, these Celtics guards had combined for 50 of the total 98 points scored.
All of the starting Celtics had found their way to the bench to start the fourth quarter. With the injury to Kristaps Porzingis, there’s no reason to play unnecessary minutes when leading by 30 points. This allowed the bench to gain some meaningful minutes, just in case they were required to perform down the road. Sam Hauser took advantage of the opportunity by scoring 17 points, shooting 5/8 from downtown. With six minutes remaining, the crowd started to sing “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye”. This was also the legendary Celtic’s play-by-play announcer, Mike Gorman’s final call of his career. He is loved and respected by everyone in the industry, and he was celebrated by the crew on TNT. In all four of the Celtics wins, they only trailed for a total of 56 seconds. They await the winner of the Cleveland vs Orlando series in the Second Round of the NBA Playoffs.
