Basketball

Eastern Conference Finals: Miami win to go one win away from NBA finals

Published

4 weeks ago

23rd October 2024

Joe Willis

Eastern Conference Finals: Miami win to go one win away from NBA finals

The Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics 112-109 in game 4 on Wednesday to make it 3-1 in the series.

After going 2-0 up at the start of the series, Miami extend their lead against Boston going into game 5. In a hard-fought match up, Miami are now the favourites to pull off another shock result to reach the NBA Finals.

Following a four day break, both teams went into this game rested and prepared but it was Boston who fell short. They will now have to compete in game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals to stop them heading home- and Miami have the momentum.

Rookie Tyler Herro gave out a match winning performance in Florida on Wednesday. He scored a career-high 37 points and became the youngest player to score more than 30 in the conference finals.

A hard-fought win on Saturday night, gave Boston hope to not give the series up. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 51 points in their 106-117 win. They cancelled out a good effort from the Heat, where Adebayo scored 26 points, but needed to win game 4.

The Celtics will now look to key players in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to surge their team on. They will have to turn this series around if they want a good chance at reaching their first NBA Finals since 2010.

Whoever win this tie, will face the winner of the Western Conference Finals. The Denver Nuggets beat the LA Lakers on Tuesday night 114-106 to make the series 2-1 to LA going into game 4. A brilliant display from Jamal Murray, kept Denver’s hopes alive to stop the Lakers from running away with the lead.

Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals takes place on Friday night. The Heat will look to finish off the series in five games, in a must win match for Boston. If successful, they will be heading to the NBA Finals for the sixth time in their history.

Tyler Herro dropping all these buckets at 20 years old ? pic.twitter.com/S17Jxfu7TG

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 24, 2020

Miami Heat 112 – 109 Boston Celtics (3-1)

A stand-out performance from Tyler Herro saw him drop 37 points, a rookie-record for the Heat. He shot 67% from the field coming off the bench, hitting 14 out of 21 shots. As well as this, he added six rebounds and three assists.

Herro becomes the second youngest player in NBA history to score 35 or more in a playoff game. He joins an exclusive list with Derrick Rose and Magic Johnson- who scored 42 points in the 1980 NBA finals for the LA Lakers.

Jimmy Butler added 24 points and nine rebounds, with Goran Dragic scoring 22 points as well. Big man, Bam Adebayo recorded an impressive double-double, with 20 points and 12 rebounds to round off a fantastic display from the Heat.

Leading the scoring for Boston was Jayson Tatum with 28 second half points, having not scored at all in the first. He grabbed nine rebounds and four assists as well. Jaylen Brown hit some crucial threes to add 21 points to the tally, with nine rebounds.

Point guard Kemba Walker, finished on 20 points with four rebounds and five assists. Marcus Smart provided a double-double performance, scoring 10 and producing 11 assists, while Gordon Hayward bagged 14 points on the night.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra [On Herro’s performance] said: “He has a 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.”

ONE WIN AWAY. pic.twitter.com/lFAoggC2q2

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) September 24, 2020

What happened in the game?

The game started off with both teams neck and neck, as it has been for the whole series. The first quarter had Miami up by one point, with the score 24-23.

Miami began to light up in the second, with three of their players scoring in double figures. With Tatum still on zero points, the Heat took the lead by 50 to 44 going into the 3rd. Shooting only 8 for 20 in both the first and second quarters, Boston were finding themselves slipping away.

But reignited in the third, Tatum hit 16 of Boston’s 32 points in that quarter to claw their way back. the Heat had a 12 point advantage early on but let their lead slip. The game was now separated by one point with Miami leading 77-76 into the fourth.

The Celtics took an early lead in the last period, the first time they were up since the second. A resurgent Heat however, thanks to Tyler Herro, quickly regained their advantage.

As Boston continued to keep the pressure on, both Tatum and Brown hit two back to back threes in the last minute to reduce the deficit. With Miami only up by three, they hit some crucial free throws to seal off the win.

Kemba Walker said post-game: “At the end of the day, we got to find a way.”

“That’s really all we can do. We can do it. It’s about pride. It’s about wanting to do it. Next game we got to come out and show that.”

A tense finale almost saw Boston scrape there way back in the game, but their efforts came up short. An unstoppable performance from Herro helped carry the Heat over the line, as they move from one game away to reaching the NBA Finals.

We hope you enjoyed the article ‘NBA Eastern Conference Finals: ‘Miami Win To Go One Win Away From NBA Finals’. Who do you think will win the Eastern Conference Finals? Let us know!