Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum Lead Celtics to Game 5 Win vs. Jimmy Butler, Heat

The Boston Celtics saved their season alive by defeating the Miami Warmth 121-108 in Recreation 5 of the Japanese Convention Finals on Friday in ESPN’s Walt Disney World Complicated close to Orlando, Florida.

Boston outscored Miami 41-25 within the third quarter to show a 58-51 halftime deficit right into a 92-83 lead into the fourth. C’s ahead Jayson Tatum scored 17 of his game-high 31 factors within the third, together with Boston’s ultimate 11. Jaylen Brown added 28 factors on 12-of-23 capturing total.

All 10 starters scored in double digits. Goran Dragic led Miami with 23 factors, and Warmth swingman Duncan Robinson added 20 (12 within the first quarter).

Boston now trails Miami three video games to 2 within the best-of-seven sequence.

Notable Performances

Warmth G Goran Dragic: 23 factors, Four assists, Four rebounds

Warmth F Duncan Robinson: 20 factors, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

Warmth F Jimmy Butler: 17 factors, Eight rebounds, Eight assists

Celtics F Jayson Tatum: 31 factors, 10 rebounds, 6 assists

Celtics G Jaylen Brown: 28 factors, Eight rebounds

Celtics C Daniel Theis: 15 factors, 13 rebounds

Tatum Propels C’s To Victory With Wonderful Third Quarter

Tatum took management of Recreation 5 by posting 17 factors and 6 rebounds within the third quarter together with his group’s season on the brink.

Down seven coming into halftime, the C’s might have wilted within the third as they’ve carried out quite a few occasions this postseason. Such an effort on Friday would’ve very doubtless cemented Boston’s season given the seven-point halftime deficit.

Nonetheless, Tatum had different concepts en path to crushing the Warmth and permitting Boston to struggle one other day.

The ex-Duke star calmly knocked down an enormous three to cap a 7-Zero run and supply Boston with a 71-63 edge:

He executed this easy transfer previous to a silky mid-range jumper to place Boston up 11 afterward:

And the third-year professional additionally helped flip nice protection into offense by ending this layup to provide Boston a 14-point benefit:

All of Tatum’s 17 third-quarter factors got here within the final 7:19 of the body, with the ultimate 11 occurring within the final 3:09.

Tatum’s effort put him in nice firm, as C’s play-by-play announcer Sean Grande famous:

Backed by Tatum’s scoring eruption, the remaining Celtics did their components.

Brown had a wonderful recreation himself his 28 factors, together with 12 within the fourth.

Daniel Theis dropped a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double, Kemba Walker dished a team-high seven assists and Marcus Sensible did a little bit of every little thing as normal with 12 factors, eight rebounds, eight assists and 4 steals.

The story of the night time was Tatum’s effort, nevertheless, and the Celtics may have one other likelihood to increase the sequence on Sunday.

3-Level Woes, Rebounding Differential and Quick-Break Alternatives Doom Warmth

The Warmth made simply 7-of-36 three-pointers (19.Four p.c) in comparison with Boston’s 12-of-38 outing (31.6 p.c), which is not an excellent mark however proved nice sufficient to outpace Miami past the arc.

Boston out-rebounded Miami 50-38 and managed the glass 13-6 on the offensive finish. And the Celtics outran the Warmth as properly, scoring 17 fast-break factors in comparison with Miami’s six. All three sides led to Miami’s demise.

Different elements contributed as properly.

Tyler Herro got here again to Earth with 14 factors (5 of which got here in rubbish time) after scorching the planet with 37 factors in Recreation 4.

Bam Adebayo had a comparatively quiet scoring night time with 13 factors on 5-of-11 capturing (albeit with eight assists), and he put the loss on his shoulders, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews:

And the Warmth did not get a lot from the bench outdoors Herro, with seven complete factors on 3-of-Eight capturing.

Nonetheless, three-pointers, rebounding and quick breaks have been the first culprits on this night time.

Robinson was scorching early, pulling down a pair of threes and scoring 12 within the first quarter:

However he received chilly after the primary quarter and completed simply 3-of-11 from deep. The remainder of the group went 4-of-25.

On the boards, Daniel Theis was a constant downside, however maybe not more than the fourth quarter, when he pulled down seven boards.

Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports activities and Celtics Weblog shouted out his play:

And the Celtics merely crushed the Warmth in transition, with Regulation Murray mentioning a notable statistic and ESPN’s Zach Lowe mentioning it as a distinction in a second half the place Boston outscored Miami 70-50:

That was it for the Warmth, who trailed by seven or extra factors for the complete fourth quarter and by double digits for the final eight-and-a-half minutes.

What’s Subsequent?

The Warmth and Celtics will play Recreation 6 on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET. ESPN will televise the sport.

A Warmth win will match them with the Western Convention Finals winner (both the Los Angeles Lakers or Denver Nuggets) in an NBA Finals matchup that can begin at a to-be-determined date and time. ABC will televise the complete sequence.

A Celtics win forces a Recreation 7 that can happen on Tuesday at a to-be-determined date and time.