A miraculous basket by Derrick White with 0.1 seconds left on the clock gave the Boston Celtics a 104-103 victory on Saturday at the Miami Heat field and tied the NBA Eastern Finals series from 0-3 to 3-3 to force the seventh game this Monday at the TD Garden in Boston.
No team in NBA history has managed to come back from 0-3 in a playoff series in 150 precedents and the Celtics are now one step away from achieving a true sports miracle after winning three consecutive times against the Heat. They were out with 0.1 left, but White grabbed an offensive rebound off a 3-pointer from Marcus Smart and left Miami's Kaseya Center speechless. It was the fifth time this postseason that the Celtics have won a do-or-die game. They did it twice against the Philadelphia 76ers and already three times against the Heat.
It was a heart-stopping end to a game of tremendous intensity, with the Heat who, despite their tremendous offensive difficulties, managed to come back from ten points behind in the fourth period and took a 103-102 lead with three free kicks scored by Jimmy Butler with three seconds per play.
It seemed to be the sentence on the Celtics, but White's play will take the series to Boston for the seventh and decisive game, with the ticket to the Finals against the Denver Nuggets at stake and a comeback for sports history.
White finished with eleven points, four rebounds and six assists and became the unexpected hero of a night in which Jayson Tatum had 31 points, 25 of them in the first half and Jaylen Brown finished with 26.
The Celtics, who connected seven of 35 triples, defeated the Heat who, despite their 33 of 93 shooting, were one step away from flying to the Finals for the second time in three years. Butler, in tremendous trouble for three and a half quarters, shot his level at the decisive moment and finished with 24 points, eleven rebounds and eight assists despite his 5-for-24 shooting. The 21 points and fifteen rebounds of Caleb Martin in Erik Spoelstra's team, now forced to triumph at the TD Garden to avoid suffering an unprecedented comeback, were not rewarded either.
Tatum put on a recital in the first half. He took responsibility and already scored 25 points at halftime. He fouled the Heat and was perfect from the free throw line, going eleven of eleven. He scored eight straight points for the Celtics in the second period and drove a 10-2 run that shot the lead to eleven points at 52-41, against the Heat in which Butler was slow to get up to speed.
But a long series of turnovers allowed Spoelstra's men to stay seven points behind despite their two leaders, Butler and Adebayo together shooting 5-of-28. The Heat demonstrated their competitive soul throughout this postseason and this Saturday they did it again by coming back, once again, ten points behind to take a 103-102 lead with just three seconds to play. They did it guided by a Butler who, with 100-102 in the light and 16 seconds to play, forced a free kick from Horford to go to the free line to shoot three. He didn't tremble. He hit all three to put the Heat ahead with three seconds left.
In the stands the party has already started, but on the Heat Butler bench he asked his team for maximum concentration. The Celtics, who showed all the worst and all the best in these 'playoffs', launched Smart's desperate triple. The rim repelled him, but White appeared with a 'tap-in' with 0.1 on the clock.
His teammates jumped on him to celebrate while the referees were still reviewing the play. The images showed that he had arrived on time and that one of the most unpredictable series ever will be decided in the seventh game, this Monday at the TD Garden.
