Jason Tatum and Marcus Smart led the Boston Celtics to a 127–102 win over the Miami Heat in Game 2 of the NBA Semifinals (Eastern District Final).
The Celtics cheered for the Miami Heat, who won Game 1 on Tuesday 118-107, and the two teams tied 1-1 ahead of their next games in Boston on Saturday and Monday, noting that the team that outpaced their opponent having won four out of seven games crowns the champion of the eastern region and advances to the final round of the league.
Tatum scored 27 points with five rebounds and five assists, while Smart, who returned from missing Game 1 with an injury, added a double-double with 24 points and 12 assists and was one step behind the Triple-Double. .
Jaylen Brown also contributed to the Celtics’ win with 24 points, including four triples with eight rebounds, while substitute Grant Williams added 19 points and Al Horford, who returned in line after his absence from Tuesday’s game due to Covid-19. Protocol, and substitute Payton Pritchard scored 10 points.
With just 11 of 34 hat-tricks in Game 1, the Celtics managed 20 of 40 attempts on Thursday.
The Celtics established their lead in the first half by winning the first and second quarters 35–24 and 35–21 respectively, while the last two quarters ended in ties 26–26 and 31–31 respectively.
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler scored just 29 points with six rebounds and three assists after he was a star in Game 1 with 41 points.
Butler was the only player besides Gabe Vincent (14 points) to break the ten-point barrier between the starting five on the team, as Pam Adebayo and Max Strass scored six points with nine problems from first and five from second, and PJ Tucker five points .
Substitutes Victor Oladipo and Tyler Hero also broke the 10-point barrier, with the former scoring 14 points and the latter adding 11 points.
Source: El Iktisad