Brooms Are At The Ready
The 2023 Eastern Conference Finals have become a decidedly one-sided affair. Thoughts of a Lakers vs. Celtics NBA Finals have been all but dashed at this point.
Even with limited production from Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat moved to within one win from returning to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons as the Heat took a 128-102 win in Game Three. Miami can book their return trip to the championship round with another win on Tuesday.
Heat in Total Control
After leading by eight points after the first quarter, the Heat took off and were never seriously threatened. More concerning for Celtics fans is the fact that it was largely reserve and role players who did most of the damage Sunday night.
Gabe Vincent led five other Miami players who scored in double digits. Vincent had 29 points largely accumulated on six threes. Duncan Robinson added 22 points off the bench, with Caleb Martin, another Heat bench player, finishing with 18 points.
Butler, who is averaging 26 points in the series, finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and two steals in Game Three. Bam Adebayo added 13 points, while Max Strus had ten points. As a team, the Heat shot 19 for 35 from the three-point line and 56.8% overall.
The Celtics’ Struggles Continue
In what was a must-win game for the Celtics, Jayson Tatum and company couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end of the floor.
No Boston player breached the 20-point barrier. Tatum had 14 points, and ten rebounds but shot a paltry one for seven from three. Jaylen Brown scored 12 points but missed seven threes. Three other players off the bench scored 11 points or more but the Celtics’ shooting woes on Sunday pushed Boston from being the second-best team in the East to one loss away from being sent to an early vacation.
Malcolm Brogdon, the reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year, went scoreless in 18 minutes. Miami’s suffocating defense limited the Celtics to 39.8% field goal shooting, including 26.2% shooting from downtown.
If the dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown don’t show up in Game Four, it’ll be a clean sweep for the Heat, and the latest chapter in the house of horrors that South Beach has become for the C’s.
In three games of the East Finals, Tatum is averaging 26 points, ten rebounds, and 3.7 assists. Not bad numbers on the surface. However it’s been Tatum’s inability to produce in the fourth quarter which has drawn the ire of the Boston faithful.
The 25 year old has been held without a shot attempt in the 4th quarter on one occasion, and without a field goal made in the final frame on others over the course of the last 3 games. Making matters worse, Tatum committed costly turnovers down the stretch, particularly in the first two games.
Brown is averaging 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, but is shooting just 10% from the three-point line. After starting the series with a 22-point performance, it’s been all downhill for Brown.
If there were talks about whether the Brown/Tatum duo was enough to get the Celtics over the hump before, that low murmur has ratcheted up to a full blown shouting match with the team’s play over the last week.
Miami Continues to Make History
For a team that went through the play-in tournament to enter the 2023 playoffs as the eighth-seeded team in the East, the Miami Heat continue to make history.
Just two rounds earlier, the Heat eliminated the best team in the NBA: the Milwaukee Bucks. Then, they became the first number eight team to win a playoff game by 25 points or more.
With a win on Tuesday, the Heat can return to the NBA Finals as an 8th seed and continue their Cinderella run throughout the postseason.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Joe Glorioso. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.