Jayson Tatum scored 26 functions, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Orderly every added 24 and the Boston Celtics held off a frantic rally within the final seconds to beat the Miami Warmth 100-96 on Sunday night and attain the NBA finals for the critical time since 2010.
Al Horford added 14 rebounds for the Celtics, who by no come trailed on systems to pulling off a Game 7 steal on the road – and no longer including the bubble, that used to be the critical such victory for the storied franchise since beating Milwaukee for the 1974 NBA title.
Next up for Boston: the Golden Affirm Warriors in a series that begins Thursday in San Francisco.
Jimmy Butler, who willed Miami into Game 7 by scoring 47 functions on Friday in Boston, led the Warmth with 35 functions in what become their season finale. Bam Adebayo added 25 for the Warmth, who occupy been down 11 with underneath three minutes to recede before making an try one final rally.
An 9-0 race, capped by a three-pointer from Max Strus with 51 seconds left, bought the Warmth interior 98-96. They had of project for the lead with about 17 seconds to recede when Butler tried a three-pointer from the moral hover, but it missed – and the Celtics escaped.
Boston forced the Warmth into nine consecutive misses all over an main stretch of the fourth quarter, the usage of that race to flip an 82-79 lead into a 90-79 edge – and the Celtics, who had lost every of their final four journeys to the East finals, stumbled on a technique to retain on.
Kyle Lowry scored 15 for the Warmth. Grant Williams accomplished with 11 for the Celtics.