NBA playoffs | Boston wins in Miami and regains some hope

(Miami) Forced to win under penalty of elimination, the Celtics succeeded (116-99) on the floor of the Heat, towed by 34 points from Jayson Tatum, to return to 3-1 in their final Eastern Conference on Tuesday in the NBA playoffs.

Boston has avoided a humiliating sweep and has greened up a bit in this series, even if its two feet remain on the edge of the precipice.

“We were down 3-0, but we didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves. We try to take one game at a time. We weren’t thinking about winning four in a row tonight, we were just trying to salvage our season and that’s what we did,” Tatum commented.

“Saved”, she is not yet, because the road remains long before dreaming of a second consecutive championship final. They will have to chain three more successes in a row to reverse this highly compromised situation. But in history, in 150 occasions, never has a team trailing 3-0 won a series in seven games.

The Heat therefore remain on favorable waivers to try to play a seventh final, with the objective of winning a fourth championship title (after 2006, 2012 and 2013), but they will have to be wary of an opponent who has regained his fighting virtues. , 48 hours after giving up in Game 3.

And as often when the green machine gets carried away, Tatum (14/22 on shots, 11 rebounds, 7 assists) acts as a locomotive, setting the tone and dictating the tempo, unlike his failure in the previous match. This is what happened in the third quarter, his 14 points having largely contributed to the beautiful escape of the C’s (88-79) by inflicting a 38-23 on the Floridians.

“Great scorers eventually find a way to score at some point. You don’t expect a great player like Tatum to have many sleepless nights. But we have to try to make it as difficult as possible for him,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.

With a remarkable overall address (51.2% success, 18/45 behind the arc), Boston then continued to widen the gap, with the contributions of Derrick White and Jaylen Brown, authors of 16 and 17 dots.

“I think since the start of the series, we’ve generated good shots, but that doesn’t prevent mistakes and sometimes the shots don’t go in. Tonight, we played in rhythm and with determination, we stopped their offensives, played on the counter … And when you see the double-steps and the free throws go in, the jump shots come in much more easily”, further analyzed Tatute.

Symbol of the Celtics’ newfound virtues: substitute Grant Williams, author of 14 points and a remarkable counter on Jimmy Butler, this time without provoking the latter as he made the mistake in the second game, sounding the star player’s alarm clock .

The latter was the only one who could resist in the third quarter by scoring 15 of his 29 points (9 rebounds). For the first time in the series, his teammates could not raise their level of play, even if Gabe Vincent (17 points), who hurt his knee in passing, and Caleb Martin (16 points), n have not failed.

A last effort is to be made and this defeat must as such serve as a booster shot in Miami. Because Boston, on probation, will do everything to instil doubt in the Floridians, Thursday at home in Game 5, just as decisive.