NBA: Buzzer-beating Boston force Miami to game seven

MIAMI  -- With a dramatic buzzer-beater from Derrick White, the Boston Celtics forced their NBA Eastern Conference Finals series with the Miami Heat to a winner-take-all game seven in a heart-stopping 104-103 win in South Florida on Saturday.

The Celtics became just the fourth team in NBA history to level a best-of-seven playoff series after trailing 3-0.

They will now have a chance on Monday to mark an even more impressive milestone if they can become the first team to win a series after losing the opening three games and earn a place in the final against the Denver Nuggets.

It was a crushing loss for Miami, who were less than a second away from reaching their seventh NBA Final before White's inspired touch.

The Celtics had led for most of the contest but Miami looked to have grabbed the win and the series when Jimmy Butler was fouled, attempting a three-point shot, by Boston's Al Horford.

With three seconds left on the clock, Butler, who had been well below-par until he came alive late in the fourth quarter, kept his cool to sink all three free throws and give the Heat a 103-102 lead.

Facing elimination, Marcus Smart's three-point attempt bounced off the rim, but White was alert and strong to tip the rebound into the bucket, the shot leaving his fingertips only a fraction of a second before the buzzer.

The Miami crowd were distraught as the Celtics celebrated in a huddle on the court.

"Ball came to me, I made the shot. That's what I saw," said White, reflecting on the game-winning moment.

"It felt good. Everybody was asking me, 'did you get it off?' And I was like, 'yeah, I think so,' but it was so close, you never know," he said.

"I'm happy we won. Whatever it takes. We got our backs against the wall. Just happy we won."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra rued his team's luck on the decisive final play.

"That thing just bounced a different way. That's the only place it could have bounced to hurt us. I thought we had a lot of things covered on that play and sometimes things just don't break your way," he said.

Jayson Tatum led Boston with 31 points and had 11 rebounds and five assists, while Jaylen Brown came up with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

Butler went into the fourth quarter with just nine points but ended with 24, while Caleb Martin provided 21 points for Miami.

Butler shot just 5-of-21 and took responsibility for Miami's situation.

"I told the guys in the locker room, if I play better we are not even in this position," said Butler, who vowed to be back to his best in game seven.

- 'To hell and back' -

The Celtics had led by 11 points midway through the second quarter as Miami struggled at both ends of the court, but the Heat rallied to reduce the deficit to 57-53 at half-time.

Boston opened up another double-figure lead in the third, but once more couldn't quite shrug off Miami, and the Heat found a way to grab the lead with a Butler tip lay-up making it 83-82 with 7:57 left in the fourth.

But the Celtics responded strongly with a 16-5 run before the late drama began to unfold, with Butler scoring 10 points to give Miami the lead with three seconds to go.

Butler was philosophical in defeat.

"That's basketball for you. Basketball at its finest. Very, very, very entertaining," he said.

"We can do it. I know that we will do it. We've got to go on the road and win in a very, very, very tough environment. But we are capable of it. So let's get busy."

The momentum is clearly with Boston after yet again roaring back from a possible exit.

"It gives you a supreme boost in confidence, man. It doesn't get too much worse than being down 0-3. We feel like we've been to hell and back," said Brown.

"We feel like we can face any adversity that gets thrown at us in the duration of the game or the duration of the season or in the postseason. It all means nothing if we don't come out and give our best effort on our home floor on Monday night."

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Butler brilliance as Miami stuns Boston

LOS ANGELES  -- Jimmy Butler led a fourth-quarter fightback as the Miami Heat stunned the Boston Celtics 111-105 to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA Eastern Conference finals series on Friday.

Miami talisman Butler finished with 27 points as the eighth seeds grabbed a second straight victory at Boston's TD Garden to leave the Celtics with a mountain to climb if they are to reach the NBA finals.

Miami had trailed by 11 points early in the fourth quarter and the Celtics led by as much as nine with under seven minutes of the final frame remaining.

But Butler led a sensational 20-9 Miami run in the final minutes of the fourth quarter that turned the game on its head and left his team just two wins away from returning to the NBA finals as the best-of-seven series heads to Miami for games three and four.

"We got some dogs, and I love it, I love every bit of it," an elated Butler said during an on-court interview after the Miami win.

"Guys never quit, guys never give up, we love playing with one another -- we got so much faith and trust in one another."

Nine of Butler's 27 points came during the fourth-quarter rally, with the Miami star fired up after an angry nose-to-nose exchange with Boston's Grant Williams midway through the fourth quarter.

At that stage in the game, Boston led 96-89, but Miami launched a devastating late run that turned the contest decisively in favor of the Heat.

Butler later admitted that Williams' apparent taunts had fueled his inspired late contribution.

"Yes, it did," Butler replied when asked if he had been motivated by Williams' trash-talk.

"But that's just competition at its finest. He hit a big shot. Started talking to me; I like that. I'm all for that. It makes me key in a lot more. It pushes that will that I have to win a lot more.

"It makes me smile. It does. When people talk to me, I'm like, 'Okay, I know I'm a decent player, if you want to talk to me out of everybody that you can talk to.'

"But it's just competition. I do respect him, though. He's a big part of what they try to do. I just don't know if I'm the best person to talk to."

 - 'Beauty in the struggle' -

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team's battling, never-say-die approach had been forged through the challenges of the regular season when they only just scraped into the playoffs.

"This year was really unique for all of us," Spoelstra said. "There's a beauty in the struggle. There's a beauty in that grind."

Butler received offensive support from Caleb Martin, with 25 points off the bench, while Bam Adebayo delivered another all-round effort with 22 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists.

Duncan Robinson added 15 points from the bench, including three three-pointers.

A shell-shocked Boston, meanwhile, were left reflecting on another shattering defeat at home despite 34 points from Jayson Tatum.

Jaylen Brown finished with 16 points but had a wayward shooting night, making only seven of 23 from the field, while Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon had 13 points apiece.

Boston coach Joe Mazzulla blamed indiscipline and mental frailty for his team's defeat.

"It comes down to the details and the margins," Mazzulla said.

"This is a series of discipline and mindset. And there were times throughout the game where we weren't the more disciplined team."

Asked if he believed Boston's late collapse was "mental", Mazzulla agreed.

"It's mental from the standpoint of who can make the right plays at the right times, who can make the simple plays, who can win those details and those margins," Mazzulla said. "So, yeah, it's definitely mental."

Tatum, meanwhile, insisted that all was not lost despite Boston dropping the opening two games of the series on their home court.

"It's tough. It's a challenge. No point in being up here sad, right. They came in and won two games," Tatum said.

"They played well, you give them credit. But we're not dead or anything. I still have the utmost confidence, everybody has the utmost confidence."

Game 3 takes place in Miami on Sunday.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Tatum stars as Celtics rout Heat to square series

BOSTON -- Jayson Tatum rediscovered his scoring touch with 31 points as the Boston Celtics thrashed the Miami Heat 102-82 to level their NBA Eastern Conference finals series on Monday.

Two days after dropping their opening home game of the best-of-seven finals, Boston came roaring back at the TD Garden with a one-sided game four blowout that squares the series at 2-2.

Tatum also finished with eight rebounds and five assists, with support coming from Payton Pritchard (14 points) and Derrick White (13). Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams added 12 points apiece.

Al Horford led a hard-nosed Boston defensive effort with 13 rebounds and four blocks.

Victor Oladipo led the scoring for Miami with 23 points from the bench. 

None of Miami's starting line-up made double figures, making a paltry 18 points in total.

"We just came and redeemed ourselves," Tatum said. 

"We knew this was a game that we really needed, to protect home court. After the last game we were just ready to play, to get back out here and play better.

"It's been a back and forth series so far. It's best of three now, we'll just go away now for game five and get ready."

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team had never been able to recover from a poor start.

"They came out and jumped on us," Spoelstra said. "I think more than anything our offense hurt us at the beginning. We just weren't purposeful. 

"But we're not making any excuses. They outplayed us tonight for sure. We never could get any kind of a grip on the game."

- Highs and lows -

Spoelstra insisted that his team would mount a response in game five.

"This is part of the playoffs. There's a lot of extreme highs and extreme lows, and a lot of emotion," said Spoelstra. "You just have to stay the course and stay together.

"And it's a great series. You have to embrace that."

The game was effectively won in the first two quarters as Boston punished a strangely subdued start by Miami to race into a 29-11 lead in the first quarter.

Tatum, who had been restricted to just 10 points in Saturday's game three defeat, was back to his sharp-shooting best with 12 points in the first quarter alone.

With Miami's offense unable to penetrate a Boston defense bolstered by the return of Williams, the Celtics kept the pressure on in the second quarter, extending the lead to 27 points at one stage.

There was no better illustration of Miami's offensive impotence than the first-half points haul of their starting line-up.

With Jimmy Butler contributing just six points, the Heat's starters totalled 10 points in the first half, with only Oladipo's 18 points off the bench preventing a total humiliation.

Miami made just 11-of-40 attempts from the field in the first half, a shooting percentage of just 27.5 percent.

Any hopes Miami had of mounting a second-half fightback were quickly snuffed out in the third quarter. 

Boston outscored the Heat 12-4 immediately after the interval to pull clear by a whopping 32 points with the lead at 69-37.

The departure of Williams with what appeared to be left knee soreness midway through the third quarter helped Miami reduce the deficit to 23 points at 73-50, but it was only a temporary reprieve.

Boston continued to score steadily at the start of the fourth quarter and were sitting on a 31-point lead at 88-57 with just under nine minutes remaining before closing out a wire-to-wire win.

The series now swings back to Florida, with top seeds Miami hosting game five on Wednesday. 

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Antetokounmpo (knee) out for Hawks-Bucks Game 5

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night due to a hyperextended left knee.

The series is tied at 2-2, with the winner of the best-of-seven series moving on to face the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals.

The Bucks remained 2-point favorites at most sportsbooks even after the news of his Game 5 status.

Antetokounmpo sustained the injury during the third quarter of the Bucks' 110-88 loss in Game 4 on Tuesday.

The two-time league MVP was contesting an alley-oop attempt by Hawks center Clint Capela when he landed awkwardly and bent his knee. An MRI revealed no structural damage.

Antetokounmpo, 26, is averaging 26.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.5 steals in this series. He has shot 60.8 percent from the field.

The Bucks were 6-5 without Antetokounmpo in the lineup during the regular season, and 40-21 with him.

-reuters-

NBA: Wire-to-wire win gives Bucks 2-0 edge on Raptors

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and added five assists as the Milwaukee Bucks took command early in defeating the visiting Toronto Raptors 125-103 Friday night to grab a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

The next two games will be played Sunday and Tuesday in Toronto.

Ersan Ilyasova added 17 points off the bench for the Bucks. Nikola Mirotic had 15 points, Malcolm Brogdon 14, George Hill 13 and Khris Middleton 12.

Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points and had eight rebounds for the Raptors. Kyle Lowry added 15 points, Norman Powell had 14 points, and Serge Ibaka contributed eight points and 10 rebounds.

The Bucks, who never trailed on the night, led by as many as 28 points in the third quarter and entered the fourth with a 17-point advantage.

The Raptors cut the deficit to 15 on Leonard's layup and free throw with 6:10 to play, but Antetokounmpo quickly answered with his own 3-point play.

Toronto's Pascal Siakam fouled out with 5:17 to go, finishing the game with eight points.

The Bucks scored the first nine points of the game, led by as many as 18 points in the first quarter and were ahead 35-21 after 12 minutes.

The Raptors pulled within 12 during the second quarter, but the Bucks turned it on again and took a 19-point lead when Ilyasova nailed a 3-pointer with 4:58 remaining in the first half.

The Bucks led 64-39 at halftime, shooting 48.9 percent from the field while the Raptors shot 36.6 percent. For the game, Milwaukee outshot Toronto 46.7 percent to 42.5 percent.

Antetokounmpo opened the third quarter with a layup and a free throw, bumping the lead to 28.

The Raptors had trimmed the margin to 23 with 9:26 left in the third when they encountered foul trouble with Siakam picking up his fifth personal foul.

Fred VanVleet made a 5-footer with 3:52 remaining, and Milwaukee's lead had dwindled to 13.

The Bucks got the gap back to 19, however, on Hill's consecutive layups in the third.

Toronto's Jodie Meeks ended the third quarter with a 3-pointer to cut Milwaukee's lead to 95-78.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cavaliers outlast Celtics, advance to NBA Finals

BOSTON -- LeBron James had 35 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists to send the Cleveland Cavaliers back to the NBA Finals after an 87-79 win against the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night.

James has reached the NBA Finals in eight straight seasons, including four in a row with Cleveland. Only Bill Russell (10), Tom Heinsohn (nine) and Sam Jones (nine) have made more consecutive appearances in NBA history.

The Cavaliers will play the winner of Monday's Game 7 of the West finals between Houston and Golden State. Cleveland has faced the Warriors in the last three NBA Finals, winning in 2016 and losing in 2015 and 2017.

"We've been counted out for a long time this season," James said postgame on ESPN. "Right around the trade deadline, no matter if we made a trade or not at that point in time, I kind of just switched my mindset on saying, 'Let's get this most out of this season I can.' I'm determined to get the most. I'm trying to squeeze this orange until there's no more juice left.

"This is a heck of an accomplishment for our ballclub -- without our All-Star power forward (Kevin Love), as well, for basically two games. This (Boston) team was undefeated in the postseason at home, and for us to be able to do this, and for me to be able to lead these guys, it's a treat."

James, who entered with an NBA-record Game 7 average of 34.9 points, improved to 6-2 lifetime in Game 7s.

Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue rated James' performance Sunday alongside that in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals as the forward's two best.

"I mean, the bigger the stage, the bigger the player, and he's been doing it for us since we've been here," Lue said. "The great quote from the great Doc Rivers is you always want to go into the Game 7 with the best player, and we have the best player on our team going into a Game 7. I like our chances. And he delivered again."

Jayson Tatum scored 24 points to lead the Celtics, who lost at home for the first time this postseason in 11 games. Al Horford added 17 points and Marcus Morris had a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards.

Boston was denied its first Finals trip since 2010, when it lost to the rival Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.

Jeff Green had 19 points and eight rebounds, JR Smith scored 12 points and Tristan Thompson had 10 points and nine boards for the Cavaliers.

Cleveland won without Love, who missed the game after sustaining a concussion in Game 6. Love has entered the NBA's concussion protocol, and his status for the NBA Finals is uncertain.

Lue said of the Cavs winning without Love: "We told the guys that Kevin wasn't coming back, and they all got together and just huddled up and just came together as one, and coming into tonight, we knew he was going to be out, and we said we want to do this for Kevin.

"It's tough, Kevin wanted to play, to be in a Game 7 situation like this in the Eastern Conference finals, being an All-Star, being our second-best player, and he just wasn't able to go. So he was down, but the guys picked him up, so now he has another chance when we get to the Finals to be ready."

After Cleveland was ahead 76-73 with 4:44 to go, Boston missed its next nine field-goal attempts as the Cavs opened the lead to 86-74 heading into the final seconds.

Green's 3-pointer with 4:56 left in the third quarter put Cleveland up 53-51, the Cavs' first lead since the opening minutes. Cleveland went ahead by as many as five after that before taking a 59-56 lead into the fourth.

Tatum hit a 3-pointer after his driving dunk over James put Boston up 72-71 with 6:04 remaining in the game, but Green answered with another trey at the 5:44 mark, and Cleveland didn't relinquish the lead after that.

Boston was up 43-39 at halftime after leading by as many as 12 in the first half.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens said, "I thought the biggest moment of the game was when we couldn't extend the lead in the second quarter. We were in really good shape, really good shape -- and then we just couldn't quite extend the lead. I thought that added to probably the shooting the rest of the game."

Boston wound up shooting 34.1 percent from the floor, including 17.9 percent from 3-point range (7 of 39). Cleveland made 45.5 percent of its field-goal attempts, including 9 of 35 from beyond the arc (25.7 percent).

James went flying into the stands with less than nine minutes left in the first quarter trying to deflect a full-court pass out of bounds. After slowly getting back on his feet, James shook hands with a fan he knocked over.

Horford said of James' overall performance, "It's one of those things that I've got to tip my hat off to him. As a group, we really fought hard, we did everything we could. We put ourselves in position. We were one or two shots away from being there, and it just wasn't enough."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

NBA: Cavs trounce Celtics to force Game 7

LeBron James' 46 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists Friday night carried the Cavaliers to a 109-99 win over the Boston Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, tying the Eastern Conference finals at 3-3.

Game 7 of the series is Sunday night in Boston, with the winner meeting either Houston or Golden State in the NBA Finals. 

The Rockets take a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 of the Western Conference finals in Oakland.

George Hill enjoyed his best game of the series for the Cavaliers with 20 points, while reserve Jeff Green chipped in 14 and Larry Nance Jr. hit for 10 points. 

They helped make up for the loss of forward Kevin Love, who lasted five minutes before leaving with a possible concussion after a collision with Celtics rookie Jayson Tatum. Love's status for Game 7 is uncertain.

Terry Rozier pumped in six 3-pointers and led Boston with 28 points while Jaylen Brown gunned in 27. Tatum finished with 15 but was largely a non-entity during the first half. 

Reserves Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart scored 10 points each.

Cleveland led for most of the last 2 1/2 quarters, although the Celtics made things interesting in the fourth quarter when they cut the deficit to seven on multiple occasions. 

But James drilled back-to-back 3-pointers in a 43-second span to up the lead to 107-96 and quash remaining suspense.

The Cavaliers also dominated the glass and reaped the benefits of the foul line. Cleveland finished with a 44-31 advantage in rebounding, including 15-5 on the offensive boards, and went 18-of-22 at the stripe. Boston was a poor 11-of-20 at the line.

The Celtics actually got off to a good start, unlike one-sided Game 3 and 4 losses in Cleveland. Brown lit it up with 15 first-quarter points, converting a pullup with 8.3 seconds remaining that put Boston ahead 25-20.

Things turned for good in the second quarter, when the Celtics could only manage 18 points. 

James' floater with 21.8 seconds remaining wrapped up a 25-point half and helped usher the Cavaliers into the locker room with a 54-43 advantage.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Celtics open East finals by ripping Cavaliers

Jaylen Brown had 23 points with 8 rebounds and Marcus Morris added 21 and 10 as the Boston Celtics stunned the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers 108-83 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday.

Al Horford finished with 20 points and 6 assists and Jayson Tatum scored 16 for the undermanned Celtics, who reached the East finals without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.


"I just try to lead 'em the best way that I can and really lead by example," Horford told the ABC broadcast about the Celtics' young roster after the game. "We're just out here playing hard and having fun."

James totaled 15 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds as the Cavaliers' five-game playoff winning streak ended. Kevin Love led the Cavs with 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Rodney Hood added 11 and Jordan Clarkson had 10.

Game 2 is Tuesday night in Boston.

Cleveland swept the Toronto Raptors and Boston beat the Philadelphia 76ers in 5 games to set up a rematch of last year's East finals. James and the Cavaliers eliminated the Celtics in a five-game series last May.

James has appeared in seven consecutive NBA Finals series, including 3 straight with Cleveland. Boston is seeking its first Finals berth since 2010, when it lost in 7 games to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boston shot 51.2 percent (43 of 84) from the field and 36.7 percent (11 of 30) from 3-point range while outerbounding the visitors 48-40. Cleveland was held to 36 percent (31 of 86) from the floor.

J.R. Smith's buzzer-beating jumper had the Cavaliers within 78-64 after 3 quarters, but a Tatum finger roll put the Boston lead over 20 at 85-64 with 10:52 remaining. Cleveland trailed by as many as 29 after that.

The Celtics were up 61-35 at halftime. Brown's 3-pointer with 32.4 seconds left in the second quarter gave Boston its biggest lead of the half (28) at 61-33. The Cavaliers never came closer than 15 in the period.

Boston led 36-18 after one quarter after going up by as many as 21, matching the biggest first-quarter deficit James has ever faced in a playoff game. Boston went on a 17-0 run midway through the period.

Celtics reserve Shane Larkin (left shoulder sprain) did not play. Larkin was already ruled out for Game 2 and is likely to miss the entire series. Boston started Morris in place of Aron Baynes to match up against James.

-- Field Level Media

source: news.abs-cbn.com