The Miami Heat’s last best chance to eliminate the Boston Celtics disintegrated with a Derrick White put-back as time expired in Game 6 on Saturday
The Celtics defeated the Heat, 104-103, setting up a final and seventh game in the Eastern Conference Finals.
White grabbed a rebound on a missed Marcus Smart 3-point attempt at the rim and made the game-winning basket.
“Our guys talk about just crashing at the end of the game, giving it a chance, and D-White made a great play,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Smart made a great play getting open to get a shot off, and D-White made a great play.”
White’s basket was the second buzzer-beater in NBA history by a player whose team was facing elimination and trailing at the time of the shot, according to the Celtics public relations department. The other? Chicago’s Michael Jordan made a game-winning shot over Cleveland’s Craig Ehlo in 1989.
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The Celtics squandered a 98-88 lead with 3:41 left in the fourth and trailed 103-102 after Miami’s Jimmy Butler made three free throws with three seconds go to.
“Basketball for you,” Butler said. “Basketball at its finest. Very, very, very entertaining.”
The Heat still have a chance to win the series ― Game 7 is Monday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT) and the winner faces Denver in the NBA Finals ― but they will have to win in Boston against a team sensing a historic comeback.
“We can do it. I know that we will do it,” Butler said. “We’ve got to go on the road and win in a very, very, very tough environment. But we are capable of it. So let’s get busy.”
No team has returned from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series in 150 tries and just three previous teams have a forced a Game 7 after losing the first three games of a series.
Boston can become the first to do it. The Celtics have momentum, experience, confidence and home-court advantage to pull it off.
For all their faults, they know how to win with their season on the line. “At their hardest times they stick by each other, and they’ve done that for long time, so credit to them,” Mazzulla said.
Boston relied on its two All-NBA players to force the win-or-go-home scenario. Jayson Tatum had 31, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks and Jaylen Brown had 26 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Boston’s Marcus Smart added 21 points.
Down 3-0 a week ago, the Celtics avoided elimination for the fifth consecutive game since trailing Philadelphia 3-2 in the conference semifinals.
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The Celtics were shorthanded, missing Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, who was out with a strained right forearm.
While Boston received the necessary performances from its two stars, the Heat did not. It’s difficult to criticize Butler, considering all that he has given the Heat, but he was 5-for-21 from the field for 24 points and Bam Adebayo had 11 points on 4-for-16 shooting. They were a combined 7-for-33 shooting midway through the fourth quarter.
As bad as Butler and Adebayo were, the Heat led 83-82 with 7:56 in the fourth and 103-102 with three seconds left.
Miami’s Caleb Martin added 21 points, and Miami’s Gabe Vincent, who missed Game 5 with a sprained left ankle, had 15 points.
“This group has a competitive will and a competitive want to win that is up there with any team I’ve ever coached,” Spoelstra said, adding, “But it doesn’t always work out your way. So then you have to do it the hard way. Man, it’s a seven-game series. There’s nothing better than Game 7s.”