MIAMI — Former Marlins GM/Yankees legend Derek Jeter, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and PGA champion Brooks Koepka, were front row at Kaseya Center Tuesday night.
They were expecting an Eastern Conference-title celebration for the Miami Heat – as was the rest of South Florida.
The Boston Celtics didn’t follow the script of a historic Miami sweep.
Behind a monstrous 18-0 third-quarter green avalanche, the Celtics showed life in a 116-99 triumph and have forced a Game 5 Thursday at Boston’s TD North Garden with Miami still in control at 3-1.
Struggling all series, Jayson Tatum awoke just in time scoring 31 points – 23 in the second half.
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Boston put together a spellbinding 18-0 run in the third quarter that put the Celtics up 70-61 as Tatum shook off an awful first half.
Miami sputtered with four turnovers and 0-for-4 shooting during the Celtics’ landslide run.
The Heat had 10 turnovers in the second half – uncharacteristic. Miami also didn’t get much in the second half from big man Bam Adebayo (10 points) and the Celtics outpaced the Heat from the 3-point line, turning the tables.
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Miami was vying for its second Eastern title in four years. The Heat, after a regular season of irrelevancy, are still one win away from being the second eight seed to advance to the NBA Finals in history.
Nikola Jokic’s mighty Denver Nuggets, who swept the Lakers, are resting and awaiting the winner.
Herro update
Heat guard Tyler Herro, who broke his right hand in Game 1 of the first round at Milwaukee, has his brace off and is resuming workouts.
“He is starting the process,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “There’s no timetable. But he does have the brace off and he’s able to do ballhandling and some shooting.”
Contributing: Associated Press
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