After leading Boston Celtics by 3-0 in the Eastern Conference, Miami Heat were one game away from booking their NBA finals berth. But, the Celtics were able to make an epic comeback into the series, after winning three matches on the bounce and thus stayed afloat.
However, the Heat had the final laugh in the series as they registered a 103-84 win against the Celtics, to confirm their NBA finals spot as they will take on Denver Nuggets.
Eastern Conference finals MVP Jimmy Butler scored 28 points, and Caleb Martin had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat to play a key role in the team’s dominating win against the Celtics.
Butler revealed that the job is not done yet and they have their eyes set on the big prize.
“We stayed together as a group. As a team, we talked about going and getting a tough one on the road. We did just that,” Butler said. “But we’re not satisfied. We’re excited. We’re happy. But we’ve got one more to get.”
Furthermore, Bam Adebayo scored 12 points with 10 rebounds for Miami. In fact, the Heat became the first No. 8 seed to reach the NBA Finals since the New York Knicks did so in 1999.
The Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra shed light on his team’s performance when they bounced back to win the decider after losing three games on the trot despite having a 3-0 lead in the beginning.
“Sometimes you have to suffer for the things that you really want,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “This group has shown fortitude when there are inevitable letdowns and failures, to have that perseverance to pick yourself up, to have that collective spirit to keep on forging ahead until you get to accomplish what you want to.”
On the other hand, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was delighted by the character, which was shown by his players after they had their backs against the wall at 0-3.
“When we were down 3-0, the thing was: How do we want to be defined?” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. “I thought they showed a lot of character by even getting to this point.”
The first game of the NBA finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat will be played on June 2.
