Celtics
the Boston Celtics
Heat
NBA
the Milwaukee Bucks
the Eastern Conference
the NBA Finals
Jayson Tatum
Victor Oladipo
Marcus Smart
Ime Udoka
Jimmy Butler
Bam Adebayo
Robert Williams
Derrick White
Al Horford
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Biscayne Bay
TD Garden
Miami
Boston
at."As
Games 1
Game 4
Game 3
Game 3 to 4
Game 5
The Heat simply never got out of first gear, as Boston -- even without the NBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Marcus Smart -- smothered Miami's starters into an abysmal combined 7-for-36 shooting performance, including going 1-for-10 from 3-point range.In a summation of Boston's dominance, Tatum, who is now averaging 32.6 points per game during these playoffs following a loss, outscored Miami's starters by 13 points by himself."For everybody, the focus was great tonight," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. Derrick White, who said after the team's morning shootaround he was determined to be more aggressive, scored five points on Boston's first two possessions and hit the team's first three shots, while Al Horford stripped Adebayo on the opening defensive possession of the game.After listlessly stumbling through the opening 12 minutes of Game 3, falling behind 39-18 and leaving themselves with a hole that proved just too big for them to dig themselves out of, this time it was the Celtics who opened up the 29-11 lead after one quarter.And unlike in Game 3, Miami had no ability to make things even remotely competitive, as the Celtics remained firmly in control right until the final buzzer."It was extremely nice -- especially because we were winning," Tatum said with a smile of spending most of the fourth quarter on the bench watching Boston's reserves close things out.Now, the focus for the Celtics is to try to bring the same "sense of urgency" that fueled them in Game 4 -- and after each of their losses in these playoffs, all of which have been followed by wins -- to Game 5.
As said here by Tim Bontemps