Celtics break in dramatically: Outsiders Heat shock the record champion

Celtics collapse dramatically
Outsiders Heat shock the record champion

05/20/2023 10:34 am

Crazy comeback, drama in the NBA: The Miami Heat win again at the Boston Celtics. With a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, the underdog now has the best chance of reaching the final. A superstar delivers, another disappoints again.

In the play-off semifinals of the North American basketball professional league NBA, the Miami Heat only need two wins to advance to the finals. The former title winner also won the second match of the best-of-seven series at record-breaking champions Boston Celtics after an impressive comeback and 27 points from star Jimmy Butler 111-105.

In the next two matches, the team from Florida, with a 2-0 lead behind them, has home advantage from Sunday. Miami has been waiting for its fourth NBA triumph for ten years and was last in the final in 2020 (2: 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers).

As in the 123:116 opening win last Wednesday, also in Boston, Butler became the match winner for the guests. The guard, who has recovered from an ankle injury, took charge of the court early in the final quarter after his side were eleven points down. Butler, who had knocked out the New York Knicks and national team player Isaiah Hartenstein in the quarterfinals with nine points, played a key role in Miami’s decisive 20:9 run in the closing stages.

Celtics coach sees “mental reasons”

“We have a couple of dogs on our team and I love everything about them. We never give up and we love playing together. We believe in ourselves very much and trust each other deeply,” Butler said after the game.

In the camp of runners-up Boston, for whom 34 points from Jayson Tatum were not enough to equalize 1-1 in the series, there was great resentment at the playful lead. “In the end it’s the details and the little things that count, because discipline and attitude count in this series. But in some phases of the game we weren’t a disciplined team,” coach Joe Mazzulla criticized his team. The coach explicitly attributed the slump in his players in the decisive phase to “mental reasons”.

Superstar Tatum, who was criticized after the first game for his poor performance in the second half, also grabbed 13 rebounds and provided eight assists. However, he scored all of his five points in the final quarter from free throws. None of his three attempts from the current game went in, which is one of the reasons why the Celtics gave up their 11-point lead.