Celtics take game 4, survive to fight another day.
Sixty percent of the teams down 3-0 in the history of the playoffs have been swept. One hundred percent of those teams have never come back from such a deficit to win a series.
Such is the gargantuan task the Boston Celtics have found themselves in and they have much of that to blame on themselves, not to take anything away from Miami’s historic and brilliant efforts in these playoffs. Monday night, Boston suited up with the sole intention of prolonging the series, to ensure they head back home to face the resilient Miami and they managed to win the game 116-99.
Boston was down in the third at once by 9 points, and it sure looks as though this would be the end of their season for them and rookie head coach Joe Mazzulla, but that is when Jayson Tatum happened.
Boston came out of a timeout looking as sharp as ever, Jayson Tatum hit a pair of threes, Derrick White added another and before you know it, the game was swung in the favor of Boston. They scored 18 points on the fly, turning a 9-point deficit into a 9-point lead. Tatum had a game-high 33 points, scoring 25 points in the second half alone, to lead the Boston Celtics to the much-needed victory.
Jimmy Butler finished with a team-high of 29 points for the Heat, but perhaps the story of the night is Bam Adebayo scoring a dismal 10 points, 5 rebounds, and was a -21 for the Heat on the night. Miami will definitely not beat the Celtics if the big-man output is so minuscule. Game 5 is 5 at the TD Garden on Thursday.
