Since falling in Game 2, the Boston Celtics have looked unstoppable.
The Celtics earned their third straight victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night to close out their first-round playoff series at TD Garden. The Celtics, after nearly taking a 20-point lead after the first quarter, cruised to a 118-84 victory in Game 5 of their series with the Heat.
This ensured Boston’s entry into the Eastern Conference semifinals for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
The Celtics took off immediately on Wednesday and essentially put the game away after the first 12 minutes. They hit 8 3-pointers in the first quarter and shot 14 of 21 from the field as a unit to take an 18-point lead into the first intermission. Derrick White also scored 15 of his 25 points in the first quarter victory.
The Celtics opened the second quarter with a 14-2 outburst, capped by a huge 3-pointer from Jaylen Brown, to take a 30-point lead. Although the Heat rallied a bit before halftime, they still entered the locker room trailing by 22 points.
At this point, the game was over. The Celtics extended their lead to 30 points in the third quarter and simply held on to claim the 34-point victory. The Celtics have won all four games in this series by double digits and have won by an average of 22 points per contest.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 23 points, all but two of which came in the first half. He also had six assists and five rebounds. Tyler Herro added 15 points and shot just 1 of 8 from behind the arc. Caleb Martin finished with 10 points and was the only other Heat player to reach double figures.
Brown finished with 25 points and six rebounds, and White had six rebounds to go along with his 25 points. Jayson Tatum finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. They shot nearly 55% from the field as a team and outscored the Heat 56-29.
The Celtics are now the first Eastern Conference team to exit the opening round of the playoffs. They will await the winner of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Orlando Magic series. The Cavaliers hold a 3-2 series lead heading into Friday’s Game 6.
While the Celtics are safe for the next round, Kristaps Porzingis won’t be back anytime soon.
In his Game 4 victory on Monday, he is not expected to be available until at least the Eastern Conference finals, .
That means after Wednesday’s win, the Celtics will have to at least get past the semifinals, getting past either the Cavaliers or the Magic without him. Even so, there is no guarantee that Porzingis will be available for the start of the conference finals.
Porzingis averaged 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this season with the Celtics. He has averaged 12.3 points and five rebounds so far in the opening round playoff series and has scored 18 points in both Game 1 and Game 3 victories.
