If the Celtics win the NBA title in a few weeks, the play at the end of tonight's Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals will live on in league and franchise history forever. Down 103-102 with only a few seconds potentially left in their bizarre season, guard Derrick White darted to the rim and was able to grab an offensive rebound and quickly put it in right before time expired. Boston won 104-103 at Kaseya Center to even the series 3-3 and send it back to TD Garden on Monday night (8:30, TNT) for what should be an absolutely bonkers atmosphere for Game 7 with a spot in the NBA Finals on the line. The Celtics are down to a short list of now only four teams in NBA history that have forced a Game 7 after trailing in a series 3-0. Of course the previous three all lost as they look to become the first of 150 teams (!!!) to complete this impossible task.
This was the 2022-23 Celtics at their best and worst as center Al Horford fouled the Heat's struggling superstar small forward Jimmy Butler (team-high 24 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists) taking a 3-pointer with three seconds left in regulation. Butler was a James Harden-esque 5-for-21 from the field but he almost made up for that by going 12-for-14 from the free throw line including calmly draining all three of those gift free throws to put his team up 103-102. At that point, this was a game that Miami should have locked up but weirdly, I would not call this an outright choke since the winning play was so fluky. The Celtics played well enough in the first three quarters-particularly in the first half-that it should not have come down to this. However, like so many other times this season (regular season and postseason), they could not close out a game as they appear to tighten up and simply try to run the clock out which is impossible in basketball against a legitimate, tough-minded opponent.
Celtics superstar small forward Jayson Tatum (game-high 31 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks) was not much better than Butler in terms of shooting (8-for-22 from the field including 0-for-8 on 3s which seems impossible for him) but he was a perfect 15-for-15 on free throws. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown (26 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals) had one of his patented fast starts followed by long stretches of foul trouble (4) and ugly turnovers (4). He was 8-for-10 on free throws though which is no small feat for him. Point guard Marcus Smart (21 points) had his second very strong performance in a row while center Robert Williams added 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Unless Butler goes crazy in Game 7-which is always a real possibility-Miami will win this series because of their undrafted guys. Small forward Caleb Martin (21 points, 15 rebounds) started and still played great while point guard Gabe Vincent returned with 15 points on his gimpy ankle, shooting guard Max Strus added 10 points and forward Duncan Robinson (who went to Governor's Academy and Phillips Exeter!) continued to impress with 13 points off the bench. Butler's rough outings have rightfully been focused on lately but Miami's center Bam Adebayo (11 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists)-their second best player-has been terrible in his own right. He went 4-for-16 from the field which seems like a misprint since he doesn't shoot 3s or anything from too far away from the basket.
Boston led 34-29 after the first quarter and Miami responded to cut their halftime lead to only four points (57-53). The third quarter was even more of a rock fight that the C's came out on top of (22-19) giving them a 79-72 lead heading into the fourth quarter. In terms of played out analogies, I will say that the Heat are like cockroaches led by Butler-who might as well be The Undertaker in a casket match-because they are virtually impossible to kill. The Celts had been up by as much as 13 points earlier on and they shot 8.1% better than the Heat from the field (46.7%-43.6%) but they managed to survive a brutal time shooting 3-pointers (Boston hit only 7-of-35 while Miami was a much better 14-of-30 aka 46.7%). The C's hit six more free throws (29-23), they blocked twice as many shots (8-4), scored 10 more points in the paint (42-32), had four more second chance points (16-12) and eight more fast break points (12-4).
The stakes could not be any higher in Game 7 for the cardiac Celtics who improved to 5-0 in elimination games this postseason which is an incredible mark. By winning the last three games in a row and given how Game 6 ended, it is not a reach to think that they might have finally broken the Heat's amazing fighting spirit. Still, this is not the Hawks or Sixers that we are talking about. These same teams played in an identical Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last year that Boston just squeaked out in Miami so there is no reason to think that this will play out much differently than that did. The C's opened as an eight-point favorite but I am still not comfortable risking any decent amount of money on this bi-polar club. The previous six games do not matter at all, Game 7 is the only thing that anyone will remember from this series; either Boston pulls off the greatest (series) comeback in NBA playoff history or Miami bounces back in the nick of time to save themselves from Yankees and Falcons type infamy. Get some rest these next few days, Memorial Day night should be a truly special atmosphere at the Garden.
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