The Miami Heat avoided a historic comeback by the Boston Celtics and qualified for the NBA Finals

Miami Heat prevented the Boston Celtics from completing a historic comeback on Monday and qualified for the NBA Finalsinstance in which the Denver Nuggets await him, after winning as a host 103-84 in the seventh and final game of the decisive eastern tie.

The team led by Erik Spoelstra had all it takes to solve the series more easily, after winning the first three games, but the reaction of the one led by Joe Mazulla, who won the next three games, transferred the definition at the seventh gameplayed at TD Garden.

Jimmy Butler, with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, was the great figure of the Heat and of the game. He was perfectly catered for by Caleb Martin, who posted 26 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.

Any accomplishment was worthy of a place in NBA history. The outcome was favorable for Miami, which reached the Playoffs with its last gasp, after beating the Chicago Bulls after a painful defeat against the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the PlaysBut had the scales tipped the way in Boston, the Celtics would have become the first team to reverse a 3-0 NBA playoff loss after 150 playoffs.

after that almost entered the postseason through the windowThe Heat, NBA champions in 2006, 2012 and 2013, beat the best team in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks, and then eliminated the New York Knicks, before establishing themselves as the new Eastern champions against Boston.

In The finals, which will start this Thursday, are awaited by Nikola Jokic’s Nuggetswho beat LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers 4-0 and entered the NBA series decider for the first time.

“We stuck together as a group and as a team,” Butler said of how his team has experienced the past 48 hours. After picking up the trophy as the tie’s MVP (Most Valuable Player), he added, “We’re thrilled but we’re still four wins away” for the ring.

End-to-end domain for Miami in Game 7

The Heat, who became the second franchise to reach the Finals after reaching the playoffs in eighth place (the only record is that of the Knicks in 1999), controlled the game from start to finish and they had no major problems defeating a Boston affected by the ankle sprain suffered on the first play by its star, Jayson Tatum, who continued to play with physical limitations and finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

His squire, Jaylen Brown, scored 19 points but with a stat of 8/23 in field goals and 8 turnovers and mirrored the Celtics’ fatal wreck from the outside line, with only 9 3-pointers converted on 42 attempts ( 21.4% ).

Miami was not intimidated from the TD Garden pressure cooker and took revenge after last year’s loss, even in the seventh game of this round. He also benefited from the Celtics’ lack of accuracy, as they barely scored 15 points in the first quarter, to Miami’s 22, and missed all 10 of their 3-point attempts.

The Heat used the momentum and accelerated to take a 17-point lead (38-21) with demoralizing actions like a steal from Tatum’s substitute Haywood Highsmith.

The Celtics star, who had hit just one shot in the first 17 minutes of the game, flinched as he scored on a fast break, but began to take more offensive responsibility on a Celtics charge that Butler stopped in cold blood with a score. triple and stealing the next ball.

Miami left control of the game at halftime (52-41) thanks to its 50% accuracy rate in triples (8/16) compared to 19% (4/21) of the locals.

Back from the locker room, Derrick White put on his hero suit again for the Celtics with nearly straight 11 points that narrowed the gap to seven points (66-59).

But Caleb Martin, one of the players from Miami who has never been drafted, has returned to assume responsibility by watching his patron, the legendary Pat Riley, from the stands. The guard started this streak as a substitute and ends it as a key player for the Heat averaging 19 points per night.

With support from Butler, Martin riddled the circle of some Celtics who no longer found how to respond on offense and allowed his rival to escape to take a definitive lead by 23 points (96-73) with less than six minutes to go, much to the frustration of the Boston fans.

With information from agencies.

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