Miami, May 22 (BNA): The Miami Heat turned off the lights and left the Boston Celtics in the dark Sunday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Reuters reported that another such performance in Game 4 on Tuesday in Miami will see the eighth-seeded Heat advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.
Gabe Vincent scored 29 points in Miami’s 128-102 win over Boston on Sunday.
Vincent hit 11 of 14 shots from the floor—including 6 of 9 from 3-point range—and Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin scored 22 and 18 points off the bench, respectively.
Jimmy Butler collected 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Heat, who shot 56.8 percent from the field (46-of-81) and 54.3 percent from 3-point range (19-of-35). Miami improved to 6-0 at home in the playoffs.
“This was a solid, mature, professional style,” Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said. “There’s a lot of pent-up stuff here as we get closer, but we still have to wrap this up.”
Bam Adebayo scored 13 points and Max Stross added 10 as the Heat took control of the second-seeded Celtics by 32-17 points in the third quarter.
Boston’s Jason Tatum scored 14 points and 10 rebounds and Jaylen Brown scored 12, though the duo combined to make just 12 of 35 shots from the floor and one of 14 from 3-point range.
“Collectively we could point fingers, but in reality, it was just embarrassing,” Brown said.
The Celtics have their backs to the wall. No team in NBA history has overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the series.
Boston cut its deficit from 22 points to 12 at 61-49 after Marcus Smart converted a three-point game to start the third quarter. Miami responded with a score of 28-9 to take control of the game, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers by Vincent.
The Heat led 93-63 in the fourth quarter before both teams elected to rest their stars. Vincent put up 3-pointers on a three-point game and Robinson converted from behind the arc to extend Miami’s advantage to 112-83 with 4:43 to play.
Miami claimed a 61-46 halftime lead after shooting 57.5 percent from the floor (23-of-40) and 45 percent from 3-point range (9-of-20). Martin sank a 3-point triple to highlight his 11-point performance, while Robinson and Vincent made a pair from behind the arc to finish with 10 points each.
Miami’s Kevin Love scored five quick points to start the game before he was retired after five minutes with an ankle injury. no longer.
ZHB