Miami demolished Boston with a record performance by Gabe Vincent and set foot in the NBA Finals

Miami Heat crushed as a visitor this Sunday at Boston Celtics with a resounding 128-102 and was folded one win before reaching the NBA Finals, after leading 3-0 in the Eastern Conference decider. Gabe Vincent was the great figure of the winning team, completing his list with unprecedented numbers for his career.

The Heat, who reached these Playoffs as eighth in the East and having to play the ‘play-in’, capitalized to the maximum disappointing performance by the Celticswho suffer little interference from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in this series, and are already savoring not only access to the Finals, but also the taste for a rematch after being eliminated by their current rival in the 2022 Eastern Final.

Like the Los Angeles Lakers in the West (they also lose 3-0 to the Denver Nuggets), Boston now depends on a historic comeback to advance, because no team in the NBA has come from 0-3 in 149 games. .

In his final and huge victory in the third gameMiami, already leading by 33 points in the third quarter, didn’t even need a standout version of Jimmy Butler, who contributed 16 points (5-of-13 shooting), 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

Instead, it was a triumph a seamless and beautifully blended block (impressive 19 of 35 three-pointers) with five other players with more than 10 points and with a very prominent name: a sensational Gabe Vincent with 29 points (his scoring record) and a fantastic 11 of 14 shooting, with 6-for-9 in triples (also the best of his career).

The only bad news for the locals was the Kevin Love’s injurywho left the game in the first quarter with pain in his left ankle and never returned to the field.

For his part, in a hopeless Celtics (11-of-42 from three-point range), without pride or ability to react and who reserved their stars in the last quarter, Tatum collapsed with 14 points (6-of-18 shooting, 1 on 7-of-3-pointers) and Brown also fell short with 12 points (6-of-17 on attempts, 0-of-7 on 3-pointers).

A heat display

As happened in the development of the Playoffs, Miami showed an important balance between all its pieces in the first quarter. Proof of this is that seven of the eight players who took to the field in that early period scored at least one point and all combined forces for powerful 11-of-19 accuracy from the field.

Caleb Martin, with 8 points without fail, led that Miami offense against some tremendously clumsy Celtics who accumulated 6 turnovers before reaching the second quarter (30-22).

Very frustrated with the referees and with many problems in defense -even when Butler was on the bench-, those of Joe Mazzulla gave very worrying sensations in front of some Heat who tasted of blood.

Thus, a spectacular “alley-oop” by Duncan Robinson for Bam Adebayo was the icing on the cake of an overwhelming local offensive that led them to place 22-point lead over a crippled Celticsif they were about to crash without having reached the break (59-37 with 3.59 on the clock).

However, Boston He held on to the game with a 2-9 lead to finish the quarter, obviously he beefed up his defense in that section ecmissed the first part with a lot of homework to do but still with life (61-46).

The Heat hit 57.5% of their shots in the first half, and three of their undrafted players (Martin, Robinson, and Vincent) hit double-digits before heading to the locker room. Meanwhile, in Boston’s muddy offense (5-of-16 on 3-pointers), Brown and Tatum added just 19 points between them.

The visitors had found some green shoots at the end of the second quarter, but in the third they were completely destroyed. A devastating 22-10 run in just over five minutes capped off an overwhelming performance in the second half by about Heat that bordered on perfection until reaching an impressive +27 (86-53).

Everything shone in Erik Spoelstra’s men: his defense stifled Boston, his energy and confidence shone on both sides of the court, Vincent put on his three-point shoes, and a wildly aggressive Adebayo continued to pound the circle. Celtics.

Instead those in green collapsed, absolutely powerless and who didn’t even pull caste to try to contain a ridiculous capital.

Miami was on the rise in that majestic quarter (32-17) and, with an unapproachable 93-63 going into the final period, the Celtics finally threw in the towel.

Miami, on the brink of a historic milestone

These charming and highly deserving Heat are on course to become the second team in NBA history to reach the Finals as eighth in their conference.

The 1999 New York Knicks were the only ones to do it so far, but in the ring series they lost to the San Antonio Spurs (4-1).

After sweeping Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, the best team in the league in the regular season, and the New York Knicks along the way, Miami will try to enter its seventh NBA Finals this Tuesday from 9:30 p.m. in Argentina, aiming to obtain his fourth title in the most important basketball league in the world.

With information from EFE.

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