Sweep prevented – nothing more
Boston Celtics narrowly avoid major NBA humiliation
05/24/2023 09:33 am
A late run in the final quarter prevents the great humiliation for the NBA’s record champions. At halftime it looks like the Boston Celtics will lose at the Miami Heat. That would be the “sweep”. But the complete collapse is prevented.
The Boston Celtics prevented the “sweep” in the playoff semifinals of the professional basketball league NBA and kept their low hopes for the final series. In the surprise team Miami Heat, the record champions won 116:99 thanks to a strong second half and reduced the best-of-seven series to 1:3.
In the final quarter, the Celtics pulled away decisively with a 12-0 run and were able to rely on their three-point shots in their second guest appearance in Florida. 18 of 44 attempts found their way into the basket, in Miami only eight of the 32 three-pointers were successful.
The outstanding man on the floor was Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who scraped a triple-double with 33 points, eleven rebounds and seven assists. He hit 14 of his 22 two-pointers and a solid four of his nine three-pointers. “There are teams who have their backs to the wall and collapse, but we didn’t do that. It shows our character,” said the match winner.
Nuggets are already waiting in the NBA Finals
On the host side, franchise player Jimmy Butler once again impressed with 29 points, but only threw one of his four three-pointer attempts into the basket. In the night on Friday, the series is now moving back to Boston, where the runner-up also has a Herculean task in game five. Never in NBA history has a team come from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs. Eighth-placed in the Eastern Conference, Miami only qualified for the championship round in the play-in tournament. They then knocked out top favorites Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks.
In the NBA finals, the winner of the series meets the Denver Nuggets, who defeated the Los Angeles Lakers around German basketball star Dennis Schröder 4-0 in the second semi-final. After the bankruptcy, superstar LeBron James even questioned the continuation of his career.