Celtics survive as Brown and Tatum power Boston to 121-108 win

The Boston Celtics kept their NBA Finals hopes alive with a 121-108 win over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Boston Celtics needed a win to advance to the next game of their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Miami Heat, never mind the next round.

Early on, it looked like the Heat were going to go for the jugular, nailing a trey to get on the board and jumping out to 5-0 lead. Boston shook off its rust, and quickly evened things up, however.

Miami charged back with a 12-point run of their own before Kemba Walker hit a trey to stop the bleeding. A trip to the line for the UConn product and a 3 from Jaylen Brown cut the lead to just four points.

A four-point run by the Heat kept Miami in front, and a trey from Duncan Robinson pushed the lead back to nine. Having shot just 5-of-25 from the field, it was mostly luck they were only down 26-18 to finish the first quarter.

The Celtics went on the attack to start the second quarter, Jayson Tatum scoring for the first time just seconds into the frame. The Heat responded with a five-point run broken up by a tip-in from Daniel Theis.

Enes Kanter went on a four-point, one-man run of his own but Miami charged back to retake a ten-point lead on a Goran Dragic jumper. Bam Adebayo would add to it to put the Heat up 40-28.

The teams took turns trading makes until Brown came alive, hitting a 3 and flushing the rock on back-to-back plays, cutting the lead to seven. A foul by Walker on Butler was unsuccessfully challenged by the Celtics, but Walker answered back with a 3 on the next play.

The Heat threatened to blow the lead open with two quick makes, but a 3 from Tatum slowed the attack. Gordon Hayward would cut the lead to five, but Miami kept the pressure on, going into the break up 58-51.

The penultimate frame began with an Adebayo jumper, with Brown answering back soon after. Boston tore off a 9-2 run to tie it up at 60 with eight left in the frame, forcing a Miami timeout.

A Brown make and a trip to the line for Tatum gave the Celtics their first lead of the game. The Georgia native kept the pressure on, building an ten-point lead behind buckets by Walker, Brown and Theis.

The Heat struggled to stay in the game as Tatum started to get hot, Boston building a 89-78 lead on a trip by the Duke product to the line. A Tyler Herro trey late in the frame sent the Celtics into the fourth quarter up 92-83.

Boston began the fourth giving up a bank shot to Herro, but a tech on Andre Iguodala after he committed a personal foul helped Boston push the lead back up to ten. The Celtics and Miami traded blows, Miami cutting it to eight on an Iguodala layup.

Back-to-back Brown treys immediately pushed it to 14, and a Hayward make with 6:30 to play set the score at 107-91 Celtics. A Crowder and-1 helped slow the leak, and a Butler trip to the line cut the lead to 14.

Brown and Tatum kept attacking, the St. Louis native pushing the lead to 19 on a Tatum 3-point play with 3:30 to play. Robinson would cut into the lead with a 3-point play of his own, and a Herro 3 threatened to make a game of it. Boston wouldn’t relent, and came away with a 121-108 win.

The Boston Celtics needed a win to advance to the next game of their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Miami Heat.

And they got it.

[jwplayer KHSNeCLY]

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