By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Boston Celtics logged a close 100-96 road win in Game 7 against the Miami Heat and advanced to the NBA Finals after a 12-year-long hiatus and the 2009-10 season when they lost to the LA Lakers in seven games.
Boston established an upper hand from the tip-off with a 24-9 start which allowed them to stay ahead throughout the whole match, not allowing Miami the lead at any point.
That doesn’t mean that Miami didn’t try very hard to take over and their deadliest comeback effort came at the very end, securing themselves a chance to win it but Jimmy Butler’s three-pointer didn’t land.
Butler finished with 35 points and nine rebounds but it was the Celtics trio of Jayson Tatum (26 points, ten boards, six assists), Jaylen Brown (24-6-6), and Marcus Smart (24-9-5) who stole the show.
Tatum also became the first player to win the inaugural Larry Bird Eastern Conference finals MVP award.
“It’s an honor. It still doesn’t even seem real right now. I’m just extremely happy and grateful for all of this. Regardless of how long I’ve been in the league, I’m not too far removed from when I was in high school and when I was dreaming about moments like this,” Tatum said.
The Celtics will face the Golden State Warriors in the Finals and the latter is considered the favorite in betting books and have secured themselves more rest all the way throughout the playoffs by not allowing any series to go further than six games. Game 1 will be played on June 2.