The Celtics are aiming for the feat no one has ever achieved in the NBA: coming back in a best-of-seven game where they started losing 3-0. In the last 149 times this situation has occurred, the team with the advantage has prevailed. But the Celtics are not giving up. To win four games in a row you first have to win one, and they did that in Miami this Wednesday (99-116) against the Heat.
The victory came thanks to a great third quarter. They lost at halftime (56:50) in a game that was life-threatening for them. They didn’t reconcile the fact that the game still had the last few minutes of the season left. They used their goalscoring abilities and gritted their teeth in defense to take a 23-38 lead in the third quarter that gave them a 79-88 lead in the latter stages of the game.
In the last quarter they withstood the attacks of Jimmy Butler and his team, used to last-minute comebacks, but this Wednesday they failed to find the gap. With a difference of 18 points (91-109) and only three minutes of play everything was decided. The Celtics looked like a different team in the second half of Wednesday’s game than they had in the previous three games, especially the last one when they were crushed by the Heat from start to finish.
Intensity, rhythm, goal and ambition have returned. The Celtics knew what was at stake and were better on both defense and offense. Jayson Tatum, who had disappeared in the crucial stages of the previous games, was again the reference man for Boston, his team’s leader in points (34), rebounds (11) and assists (7), decisive in the last quarter.
Jaylen Brown has improved despite not being fully fit, Grant Williams and Derrick White have given their best this Wednesday. Marcus Smart and Al Horford wrapped up the team game that saw some Celtics considered favorites before the duel began. In the heat, Butler had 29 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
It was a commanding win that will give the Celtics hope again. Now, the playoffs return to Boston for Game 4 of the series on Thursday. Should the Celtics get a second win at home, Game 6 is scheduled for this Saturday in Miami. And if they evened the series, the deciding game, again in Boston, would be on Monday.
The nuggets are waiting
In the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers. It was a painful 4-0 for LeBron James, who failed at crucial moments, and this Wednesday has fueled speculation of a possible withdrawal. “Let’s see what happens next. I don’t know it. Honestly, I have to think a lot about what it means for me to continue playing basketball,” confessed one of the NBA legends.
Serbia center Nikola Jokić has surpassed another legend in the list of players with most triple-doubles in the postseason. He’s reached eight, one more than Wilt Chamberlain did 56 years ago, and he has yet to play the final games. Jokić is the clear leader of the Nuggets, averaging 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists in the playoffs.
Thanks to his performance, the Nuggets advanced to the first NBA Finals in their history. They also managed to get revenge on the Lakers, who beat them in the three previous Western Finals encounters. The Nuggets’ other mainstay is guard Jamal Murray, who averaged 27.7 points per game in the postseason.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.