Posted in: 20/05/2022 – 08:22Last updated: 20/05/2022 – 08:20
Miami (AFP) – Jason Tatum and Marcus Smart led their Boston Celtics to victory over host Miami Heat 127-102 Thursday in the second game of the semi-finals of the NBA (Eastern District Final).
The Celtics saluted the Miami Heat, who won the first game on Tuesday 118-107, and the two teams tied 1-1 before their next matches in Boston on Saturday and Monday, noting that the team that precedes its opponent to win four out of seven games crowns the champion of the eastern region and reaches the final round of the league.
Tatum scored 27 points with five rebounds and five assists, and Smart, who returned after missing the first match due to injury, added “Double Double” with 24 points and 12 assists, and was one follow-up away to achieve “Triple Double”.
Jaylen Brown also contributed to the Celtics’ victory by scoring 24 points, including four triples with eight rebounds, and substitute Grant Williams added 19 points, and Al Horford, who returned in turn after his absence from Tuesday’s match due to the “Covid-19” protocol, and substitute Payton Pritchard scored 10 points. .
After only scoring 11 hat-tricks out of 34 in the first match, the Celtics managed to translate 20 of the 40 attempts on Thursday.
The Celtics imposed their advantage in the first half by winning the first and second quarters 35-24 and 35-21, respectively, while the last two quarters ended in a tie 26-26 and 31-31, respectively.
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler scored only 29 points with six rebounds and three assists, after imposing himself as a star in the first game by scoring 41 points.
Butler was the only player besides Gabe Vincent (14 points) to cross the ten-point barrier between the starting five in the squad, as Pam Adebayo and Max Strass scored six points with nine troubles for the first and five for the second, and PJ Tucker five points.
The substitutes Victor Oladipo and Tyler Hero also succeeded in exceeding the ten-point barrier, as the first scored 14 points and the second added 11 points.
© 2022 AFP