Thanks to an impressive showing earlier in the playoffs, Boston Celtics entered the Eastern Conference Finals matchup against Miami Heat as favorites to make it to NBA Finals. But, things didn’t go as planned for Boston so far.
Celtics suffered a narrow 109-112 defeat to Miami on Wednesday night, which saw them fell behind 1-3 in the series. They now face three elimination games and will have to pull off a rare feat if they want to save their title hopes.
Celtics played catch up for the most of the game but managed to get ahead one point in midway through the fourth quarter. Heat quickly regained control of the game, however, and entered the final minute with nine points lead.
Boston attempted another comeback, but it was too late at that point. Miami’s players were calm under pressure on the free-throw line, converting 5 out of 6 shots and sealed another big win.
The heat was led by rookie Tyler Herro, who scored a franchise-record 37 points while adding six rebounds and three assists.
“He has a great competitive humility about him,” said Miami’s head coach Erik Spoelstra after the game. “He has confidence. He has a fearlessness that is uncommon. But he’s humble enough to work, to be coachable, to take the mentorship from the veteran players that we have on our team, and he just continues to gain more confidence as we go.”
All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo had 24 and 20 points, respectively, while Goran Dragic added 22. No other Heat player had more than three points.
Jayson Tatum scored 28 points for the Celtics, followed by Kemba Walker’s 20 points and Jaylen Brown’s 21 points.
