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Heat

The New York Knicks are looking for a poing guard this offseason and their search could take them in a variety of directions <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10037274-latest-nba-offseason-intel-does-og-anunoby-want-out-of-toronto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to B/R's Jake Fischer</a>.
While the Knicks are interested in Utah's Donovan Mitchell, Fischer says it's unlikely they have enough assets to acquire the All-Star from the Jazz compared to other teams such as the Miami Heat who could include Tyler Herro and draft picks in a hypothetical trade.&nbsp;
Another name linked to New York is Jalen Brunson but there has been momentum for him to remain in Dallas. It is believed that he could get a five-deal worth more than $20 million annually from the Mavs while the Knicks could only offer a four-year deal.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Still, both the Knicks and the Pistons &mdash; who have also shown interest in Brunson &mdash; could offer him the starting point guard position and lead ball-handling duties which could be attractive to him.
<a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10037274-latest-nba-offseason-intel-does-og-anunoby-want-out-of-toronto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fischer points out that executives around the league</a> believe the Knicks could look to acquire D'Angelo Russell from the Timberwolves. New York recently added Gersson Rosas to their front office who traded for Russell several years ago while he was Minnesota's president of basketball operations.
Fischer adds that the Knicks are not expected to go after Collin Sexton with the Cavs hoping to keep him. New York is interested in Purdue's Jaden Ivey in the NBA Draft but he will likely be taken before the Knicks pick at No. 11.

The Knicks search for a point guard this offseason could reportedly include Donovan Mitchell and D'Angelo Russell.

Knicks' PG search includes Donovan Mitchell, D'Angelo Russell

Jimmy Butler followed up one amazing performance with another.
It just wasn't enough for the Miami Heat.
The last shot of Butler's season was a 3-pointer that missed &mdash; and in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, that's the way most of the shots from deep went for the Heat. Miami went 6 for 30 from long range on Sunday night, one of the big factors in their season-ending 100-96 loss to the Boston Celtics.
&ldquo;When it ends, it ends in a thud," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I just have so much incredible respect and love for everybody in the locker room and what everybody gave to this team. It's such a memorable season and postseason."
Butler was brilliant &mdash; 47 points in Game 6 to extend the season, 35 points in Game 7 to give the Heat a chance at getting to an NBA Finals matchup with the Golden State Warriors. He played every second of the finale.
&ldquo;You can put him in that category of superstars," Heat center Bam Adebayo said. &ldquo;To me, he's one of the best two-way guys in the league, hands down."
This is how good Butler was: On a rough shooting night for the Heat, they still had a chance.
When the Heat made 3s at home this season, it was game over: Miami was 25-1 when shooting at least 37% from deep. When the Heat didn't shoot that well, they went 11-14.
They were the epitome of how it's truly a make-or-miss league. And if Butler had gotten one more 3 to fall &mdash; for the record, the Heat had no problem with his shot selection when he tried <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1531112011383222273?s=20&amp;t=M1r6JG-DauXYeTvK0QmwVg">what would have been a go-ahead 3 with about 17 seconds left</a> &mdash; they might have been headed to the NBA Finals.
&ldquo;I thought it'd have been an incredible storyline, Jimmy to pull up and hit that 3," Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I love that about Jimmy. That was the right look. As it was leaving his hand, I thought for sure that was going down. Good, clean look. It was definitely better than anything we could have designed. It's just a shame that it didn't end that way."
Butler averaged 27.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in the playoffs. His assessment of those numbers: &ldquo;Not good enough."
&ldquo;I learned that I have to be better," Butler said. &ldquo;And I will be better. Back to the lab."
It was the third time that a top-seeded Miami team was ousted at home in an ultimate game.
There was the Allan Houston shot with a second to go in 1999 that gave the eighth-seeded New York Knicks a 78-77 win in Game 5 of a best-of-five opening round series. In 2005, the Heat led Detroit in Game 7 of the East finals with 90 seconds remaining before getting outscored 10-3 the rest of the way and losing 88-82.
And now, add a loss to the Celtics to that list.
&ldquo;This was all about competition," Spoelstra said. &ldquo;We faced a team that kind of matches all the best qualities of what we do."
There was also an injury factor. The majority of the key pieces in the Heat rotation -- Butler, Kyle Lowry, P.J. Tucker, Max Strus, Tyler Herro primarily among them &mdash; were all dealing with various problems in the season&rsquo;s final weeks, some of those issues particularly pronounced during the East finals. Tucker didn't finish Game 7 because of injury.
&ldquo;I will never make any excuse about injuries," Lowry said. &ldquo;Ever."
The Heat even took great pains to point out that Boston was also dealing with ailments &mdash; which is absolutely correct. Regardless of which team lost Game 7, it was going to be reasonable for that side to wonder &ldquo;what if?&rdquo; on the health front and lament that injuries played a big role in their falling short of making the title round.
&ldquo;One thing I love about this team, we fought through adversity this whole year," Adebayo said.

Miami went 6 for 30 from long range on Sunday night in Game 7.

Heat go cold in Game 7 against Boston, and pay the price

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jayson Tatum scored 26 points, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart each added 24 and the Boston Celtics held off a frantic rally in the final seconds to beat the Miami Heat 100-96 on Sunday night and reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.
Al Horford added 14 rebounds for the Celtics, who never trailed on the way to pulling off a Game 7 win on the road &mdash; and not including the bubble, that was the first such victory for the storied franchise since beating Milwaukee for the 1974 NBA title.
Next up for Boston: the Golden State Warriors in a series that starts Thursday in San Francisco.
Jimmy Butler, who willed Miami into Game 7 by scoring 47 points on Friday in Boston, led the Heat with 35 points in what became their season finale. Bam Adebayo added 25 for the Heat, who were down 11 with under 3 minutes to go before trying one last rally.
An 9-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Max Strus with 51 seconds left, got the Heat within 98-96. They had a chance for the lead with about 17 seconds to go when Butler tried a 3-pointer from the right wing, but it missed &mdash; and the Celtics escaped.
Boston forced the Heat into nine consecutive misses during a crucial stretch of the fourth quarter, using that stretch to turn an 82-79 lead into a 90-79 edge &mdash; and the Celtics, who had lost each of their last four trips to the East finals, found a way to hold on.
Kyle Lowry scored 15 for the Heat. Grant Williams finished with 11 for the Celtics.
The Celtics came out flying. The Heat came out the opposite of flying.
Boston&rsquo;s lead was 32-17 after one quarter &mdash; the largest ever by a road team after 12 minutes of a Game 7, four points bigger than Golden State&rsquo;s lead over the Los Angeles Lakers back in the 1977 playoffs.
The Celtics set that tone with defense; they held Miami to 33% shooting in the opening quarter, 1 for 7 from 3-point range and outscored the Heat 13-4 on fast breaks.
The lead was still 15 with 2:36 left in the half, when Miami showed signs of life.
An 11-2 run is how the Heat ended the half, the burst sparked by 3s from Strus and Butler, then capped by four free throws from Lowry in the final 29 seconds. Butler was up to 24 points at the break &mdash; he didn&rsquo;t miss a single second &mdash; and Miami had gotten within 55-49 going into the third.
Miami thought it had gotten within 56-54 when Strus rattled in a corner 3 early in the third. But the Celtics answered with a 9-1 run, which was even worse &mdash; the NBA replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey decided that Strus had stepped out of bounds, his 3 came off the board while the game was going, and a 56-54 game became 65-52.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Derrick White had to leave early in the fourth quarter because he was bleeding after his head got struck by Adebayo under a basket. ... The Celtics became the first team to get three road wins over Miami in the same playoff series. Road teams went 5-2 in the East finals, Boston going 3-1 on the Heat home court.
Heat: Butler was the second NBA player this season to play every second of a game. The other was Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Georgios Kalaitzakis, who played all 48 minutes of the Thunder&rsquo;s season-ending 50-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. ... Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro returned from a three-game absence because of a groin injury, but went scoreless in seven minutes.
GAME 7 HISTORY
Boston improved to 26-9 in Game 7s. Miami fell to 6-5 in such games, and lost for the first time in five Game 7s at home under coach Erik Spoelstra.
HOME DOGS
Miami was a 2.5-point underdog at tipoff according to FanDuel Sportsbook, marking the second time in the last 20 Game 7s &mdash; excluding the bubble restart in 2020, when all the games were at Walt Disney World &mdash; that the home team wasn&rsquo;t favored. The other was Houston in the 2018 Western Conference finals; the injury-plagued Rockets were 6.5-point underdogs and lost to Golden State 101-92.

The Boston Celtics held off the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, advancing to the NBA Finals.

Celtics reach NBA Finals, hold off Heat 100-96 in Game 7

The Miami Heat announced that Tyler Herro will be available to play in Sunday night's Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals after missing the last three games with a groin injury.
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BOSvsMIA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BOSvsMIA</a> INJURY UPDATE: Tyler Herro (groin) will warm up with the intent to play in tonight&rsquo;s Game 7 vs the Celtics.
&mdash; Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1531043705293086723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics will have their entire roster with both Robert Williams III and Marcus Smart available to play.
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEBHInjuryReport?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NEBHInjuryReport</a> update: Marcus Smart - AVAILABLE Robert Williams - AVAILABLE
&mdash; Boston Celtics (@celtics) <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1531042598395297795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Miami's Tyler Herro and Boston's Robert Williams III and Marcus Smart are available for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Tyler Herro, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams III available in Game 7

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Erik Spoelstra didn&rsquo;t even have to finish the sentence. The Miami Heat coach was speaking in the locker room after a season-extending win in Boston, players and staff standing around him in a semicircle.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no two better words,&rdquo; Spoelstra said.
&ldquo;Game 7,&rdquo; about a half-dozen people responded, in unison.
Game 7, for a berth in the NBA Finals. Either the Heat or the Boston Celtics will become Eastern Conference champions on Sunday night, when they&rsquo;ll finally finish their series and see which club will face the Golden State Warriors in the title round.
It&rsquo;ll be the second Game 7 between the teams; the other was in 2012, when the Heat topped the Celtics 101-88 to win that year&rsquo;s East title.
&ldquo;Look, we&rsquo;re here,&rdquo; Spoelstra said after Miami fended off elimination with a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-boston-celtics-nba-mlb-sports-e63d7424bb2a61e590b6e1a544c32f88">111-103 win in Boston</a> on Friday night, behind a 47-point, nine-rebound, eight-assist, four-steal effort from Jimmy Butler. &ldquo;This is the way it should be with these two teams. It should have gone seven games.&rdquo;
Miami has the home-court advantage for the finale, though home court has meant nothing in this series. The Heat went 2-1 in Boston, the Celtics have gone 2-1 in Miami so far with the two wins coming by a combined 38 points and Boston&rsquo;s 6-2 road record is the best of any teams in this season&rsquo;s playoffs.
And that has the Celtics brimming with confidence, even though road teams are 34-110 all-time &mdash; a winning percentage of .236 &mdash; in Game 7s.
&ldquo;Scale of 1 to 10? Ten. I mean, it shouldn&rsquo;t be any less than that, right?&rdquo; Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said when asked how certain he is that Boston can win the series on Miami&rsquo;s floor. &ldquo;You know, it&rsquo;s the last game. That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;
Injuries have been one of the major storylines of the series, and that remains the case Sunday.
Butler has been dealing with knee issues and twisted an ankle late in Game 6 though still came through with arguably the best game of his career. Kyle Lowry and Max Strus &mdash; who had big bounce-backs Friday after posting a combined zero points in Game 5 &mdash; still have hamstring concerns. For Boston, Marcus Smart&rsquo;s ankle has been balky, Robert Williams III&rsquo;s knee is an ongoing question and Jaylen Brown banged a knee on a drive in Game 5 though finished the game with no obvious ill effects.
&ldquo;This time of year, there&rsquo;s nobody 100% healthy, both sides,&rdquo; Miami&rsquo;s P.J. Tucker said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure they got a bunch of guys, too, just trying to figure it out and give what they can. Try to win. That&rsquo;s it. You can&rsquo;t get these days back. It&rsquo;s living in the moment, trying to just do what you can.&rdquo;
The Heat might get one key piece back: Tyler Herro, who has been sidelined for the last three games with a strained groin, is going to try some on-court work Sunday in hopes of playing in Game 7.
&ldquo;For us, it&rsquo;s just another opportunity,&rdquo; Celtics coach Ime Udoka said Saturday. &ldquo;You put yourself in this position, going up 3-2, to have two games to win one. And so, as much as you&rsquo;d love to finish it on your home court, we&rsquo;ve been up and down in the series and due to that it&rsquo;s where it is right now. ... It&rsquo;s just another opportunity and we obviously see the big picture ahead.&rdquo;
The Celtics last went to the NBA Finals in 2010. This is their fifth trip to the East finals since, and Friday&rsquo;s loss made them 0-5 in potential East clinchers over that span.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to come out and play, come out and respond,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Backs are on the wall, Game 7, loser go home. We&rsquo;ve got to come out and find a way to win.&rdquo;
From Miami's perspective, the seeds began being planted for this just moments after Game 5. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-miami-heat-nba-sports-gabe-vincent-301bb4ce3cbdc51c2105c1e6f8d8c7df">Celtics had just won in Miami to take a 3-2 series lead,</a> and Spoelstra stepped into a defeated locker room to lay out the objective. He repeated it, over and over.
&ldquo;Bring this thing back on the 29th,&rdquo; Spoelstra kept saying.
The 29th is Sunday.
They brought it back. Game 7 awaits.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing like a Game 7,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m just really excited that we all get to experience that together.&rdquo;
HEAT FINED
The NBA fined Miami $25,000 on Saturday for violating league rules regarding team bench decorum. The league said &ldquo;on multiple occasions, several players stood for an extended period in Miami&rsquo;s team bench area, stood away from the team bench, and were on, encroaching upon or entering the playing court during live game action&rdquo; during Game 6 in Boston.
It has been a point of emphasis for the league of late. Dallas was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-stephen-curry-171b1c7a09da7d977562ad6162c49102">fined a total of $175,000</a> for three similar infractions.
POWER OF 3
No opposing team has ever won three games at Miami in the same playoff series, a trend that Boston will aim to break on Sunday.
This deep into the playoffs &mdash; conference finals or NBA Finals &mdash; such a feat has occurred only 10 times in the last 40 seasons, most recently when Toronto won three times at Golden State in the 2019 NBA Finals.
GAME 7 HISTORY
Miami has two players who have scored at least 30 points in a Game 7. Lowry had 35 for Toronto in a 2016 romp over the Heat, and Victor Oladipo had 30 for Indiana in a 2018 loss to Cleveland. Tatum has averaged 24.0 points in four previous Game 7s, the best of anyone on this Boston roster.
The Celtics are 25-9 in Game 7s, Miami 6-4.
TRENDS
There have been two Game 7s so far in these playoffs, both in the second round: Boston beat Milwaukee by 28 and Dallas won at Phoenix by 33.
Road teams have won three of the last four Game 7s.
CENTURY MARK
Both teams will be playing their 100th games of the season. Miami enters 64-35, Boston 62-37.

The Celtics and Heat square off in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals with the winner advancing to the NBA Finals.

Game 7: Heat, Celtics set to finally decide East champion

What happens is the crux of any conversation. Results spur on ideology and conjecture. Wins, losses, box scores and stat lines invite slander and celebration.
Why?&nbsp;
Results are important for measuring goals, gauging success and resetting priorities or strategies. Why those results occur is what I find fascinating.&nbsp;
The 2022 Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics have been difficult to parse through, akin to a redux of the 2004 series between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers. Only four of the players who played 10 minutes per game or more in that series shot 40% or better from the floor.&nbsp;
A series defined by restrained offense and amplified defense is rooted in the why. Yes, both the Heat and Celtics have exchanged slogging moments. Turnovers have been in abundance. There have been many free throws, as the physicality is ratcheted up to the 10th degree.
The Heat&rsquo;s offense is predicated on movement, screening, handoffs and maximizing their pressure points through shooting gravity to open up looks with their collective passing and intuitive play. Miami was 14th in the league in three-point attempts per game, but first in three-point percentage (37.9%). What made them more impressive was how those shots got off.&nbsp;
The Heat are chock-full of movement shooters with Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry all capable of hitting shots off of a variety of movements and even self-created with their handles to varying degrees. Miami shot 42.9% from deep in Game 6, a far cry from the 29.2% (52/178) over the previous five games. Jimmy Butler hit four shots from distance after only hitting two all series. Tough shots fell in volume.&nbsp;
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To equate Miami&rsquo;s victory and invigorated offense strictly to shot variance would be unfair. Miami has thrived on those tough threes off movement or pull-ups all season, but they haven&rsquo;t hit the same. It&rsquo;s difficult to project another game like last night for Miami&rsquo;s shot-making, although one game throws sample size to the wind. Again, the why is so crucial here.&nbsp;
Miami&rsquo;s offense has been stuck in the mud much of the series as our own Nekias Duncan <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-heat-have-a-bigbig-problem-on-their-hands">recently wrote</a>. Boston&rsquo;s bigs have stifled the Heat in the paint and through their ability to toggle between the paint and perimeter. Stopping shots at the second and third level has been a large reason for Boston&rsquo;s defensive success. Miami,&nbsp; 27th in rim frequency during the regular season per Cleaning the Glass, is dependent on their ability to attack the gaps created by their shooting gravity.&nbsp;
They&rsquo;ve been constricted by their own shot profile at times this series, but mainly due to how Boston has been able shut off the release valves. Most of Miami&rsquo;s aforementioned premier spacing core, particularly the shooters off screens, has struggled throughout the series. We know the shots haven&rsquo;t fallen, but it&rsquo;s not simply a collective slump. Boston&rsquo;s defense as a whole has been swarming, but why have Miami&rsquo;s movement shooters struggled the most?
Through the lens of the Eastern Conference Finals and the league at large, few players epitomize the why quite like Derrick White. The results haven&rsquo;t always been there for White during the playoffs, although the post-baby bump has been real (congrats again to Derrick and his family).&nbsp;
Yet, so often when watching White, whether with the Spurs or Celtics, the why is consistently there. The consistency in process matters so much more than the consistency in production. That sounds counterintuitive, but it&rsquo;s strikingly true in basketball. There&rsquo;s a line in the sand that wavers among the grains, and White often has crossed the line in spite of his production simply due to his persistent process.
White has routinely neutralized Miami&rsquo;s release valves and shut off the water entirely for stretches. It&rsquo;s been like watching a naturally-rich land dry up after a dam is built up stream. That dam is Derrick White, and the Heat have employed any number and variety of players to try to take White out of the picture to free up shooters.
This play from Game 5 stood out.
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Notice the quick flip and pushoff from P.J. Tucker in a screening action that was masked with Oladipo setting up as a second screener. White immediately takes Oladipo, and Horford takes Tucker after Jaylen Brown switches onto Duncan Robinson. Brown navigates the screen well enough for the action to die out, and would you look at that... Derrick White still makes a play on the back side.
Already four games and roughly 10 minutes into the series, the Heat are throwing the kitchen sink at an off-ball chaser to free up their shooters. Whatever it takes to force switches, including some semi-illegal&nbsp; screens. Again, why?
Well, White immediately made his presence felt on Max Strus.
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He always shifts his body, scans the floor constantly, and his slight movements are impeccable. So often, chasers get beat off the ball because of too big a stride or a wrong step. White rarely crosses his feet up, and he can appear choppy at times, but it's because he's always on his toes, minimizing space given and maximizing his margins for error. Even with the majority of hard screens, White is making his recovery plays and finding his way back into the picture.
If he does get beat when running a shooter off the line, he's one of the best in the league with backtaps and strips.
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Press up that hard on a shooter, and the opposing team will try to use that against you as a pressure point. Lo and behold, Erik Spoelstra dialed up just that, using Duncan Robinson as a screener with White stapled to him, hoping to cause an error on the perimeter.
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White shoots that gap absurdly well. Not just well, like Julius Peppers is smiling somewhere watching that. White dips his shoulder back around Bam Adebayo's screen and is back in front of Herro by the free throw line. It's a ridiculous possession.
To say Max Strus hasn't had a fun series would be an understatement. Watch the way White starts to angle himself, immediately prepping to lock and trail as soon as he knew the movement was en route.
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White seemingly always has at least one hand on the man he's trailing, making it that much harder to gain separation.&nbsp;
This play is a pinnacle "What else am I supposed to do?" moment. Strus hits White with a swim move, sends him careening into the Tucker screen, and Tucker thuds White. So clearly, Strus should be open, right? Right?
Once again, White comes flying around the screen and reattaches to Strus' hip without being overly physical or fouling, funneling him into the looming Horford.
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That consistency has been unreal. While White isn&rsquo;t necessarily the player finishing possessions defensively (although he still forces his fair share of turnovers), the quietness is what stands out.&nbsp;
White&rsquo;s giving his best Darrelle Revis impression, shutting off options, isolated against the best deep threats in the game. You see Jimmy Butler struggling to find an opening, wading in the mid-range, but the why? Max Strus can&rsquo;t get separation. White&rsquo;s been glued to Duncan Robinson. Gabe Vincent is always seeing a rear contest on pull-up twos. Nothing is coming easy for Miami.&nbsp;
Derrick White has put on a masterclass of screen shedding and route mirroring. His off-ball defense and ability to make things difficult always&nbsp;is a large reason for why Nekias Duncan, Jackson Frank and I had <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/defensive-awards-and-a-celebration-of-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">White making an All-Defense team</a>. It's not hyperbole to say that White is among the most consistent defensive players in basketball, something that tends to go underappreciated. Regardless of whether or not the Celtics win Game 7 tomorrow and make their first NBA Finals since 2010, Derrick White's consistent ability to make things difficult deserves shine.

Derrick White has put on a defensive masterclass during the Conference Finals, shutting down Miami's shooters.

Derrick White: Eliminating release valves and shutting off the water

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler had 47 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and the Miami Heat forced the Eastern Conference finals to a decisive seventh game by beating the Boston Celtics 111-103 on Friday night.
Ten years after LeBron James scored 45 points in Boston to help the Heat avoid elimination in Game 6 of the conference finals en route to the first of their back-to-back NBA titles, Butler had 17 points in the fourth quarter to top him and send the series back to Miami.
With a victory at home Sunday, the Heat would advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years.
In the most back-and-forth game of the series, Boston took a 97-94 lead on Derrick White&rsquo;s 3-pointer with under five minutes to play &mdash; the first time all series the lead has changed hands in the fourth quarter. Kyle Lowry answered with a 3 and then added two free throws as Miami scored 11 of the next 13 points.
Lowry finished with 18 points and 10 assists before fouling out with 2:18 left. Butler made 16 of 29 shots, hitting 4 of 8 from 3-point range and all 11 free throws.
Jayson Tatum had 30 points and nine rebounds and Derrick White came off the bench to score 11 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for Boston. The Celtics are trying to reach the finals for the first time since 2010.
Boston's Jaylen Brown scored 20 points, missing a pair of free throws with the game tied at 99 after Lowry fouled out. Brown fouled out himself on a charge offensive that was assessed after a challenge on a missed dunk with 13 seconds left and the Celtics down by four.
IN AND OUT
Miami guard Tyler Herro missed his third straight game with a strained groin, costing the team its No. 2 score. Kyle Lowry (hamstring), Max Strus (hamstring) and P.J. Tucker (knee) had been listed as questionable but were in the starting lineup.
Boston&rsquo;s Marcus Smart (sprained right ankle) and Robert Williams III (sore knee) tested their injuries pregame and were also in the lineup.
TIP-INS
Heat: Butler&rsquo;s 47 points is the third-most to stave off elimination against the Celtics. Elgin Baylor scored 61 in Game 5 of 1962, and Wilt Chamberlain had 50 in Game 5 in 1960. ... Butler had 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in the first. He scored or assisted on 24 of Miami&rsquo;s 29 points in the quarter.
Celtics: Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who was inducted into the ballclub&rsquo;s Hall of Fame on Thursday night, was courtside. Ortiz threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park earlier in the evening. Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez was also at the game, wearing his World Series ring.

Behind Jimmy Butler's 47 points, the Miami Heat forced a Game 7 against the Boston Celtics.

Butler scores 47 points, Heat beat Celtics to force Game 7

The Tyrese Haliburton era is well on its way in Indianapolis, which means it&rsquo;s likely time to say adios to Malcolm Brogdon in an Indiana Pacers uniform. Brogdon is one of the more <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-nba-players-who-feel-destined-to-be-traded-this-offseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obvious trade candidates in the NBA this offseason</a> thanks to his consistent injury issues and Haliburton&rsquo;s quick emergence. Despite Brogdon's missed games, he will still attract interest from rival teams.
During Brogdon&rsquo;s three-year tenure with the Pacers, he averaged 18.9 points, 6.3 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 0.8 steals per game on a 55.3 True Shooting percentage. Brogdon always produced when he was on the court for Indiana, but his availability was an issue. Going forward, it&rsquo;s going to be hard for Brogdon to shed the &ldquo;injury prone&rdquo; label because it&rsquo;s been an issue dating back to his collegiate career at the University of Virginia.
Aside from injury concerns, Brogdon&rsquo;s market will be robust with playofff or championship-hopeful teams lining up for his services. As a versatile multi-positional defender, connective playmaker and secondary scorer, Brogdon can really help a team that's going in the opposite direction as the rebuilding Pacers.
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s go ahead and dive into the most realistic trade packages Indiana could expect for Brogdon this offseason. As Indiana turns the page to Haliburton, it&rsquo;s time to extract some value from a potential Brogdon deal.
Phoenix Suns
Pacers receive: Landry Shamet, Dario Saric, 2024 1st-round draft pick (lottery protected)
Suns receive: Malcolm Brogdon, 2022 No. 31 pick
Phoenix&rsquo;s lack of guard depth was exposed throughout the playoffs. They simply can&rsquo;t rely on Cameron Payne anymore, who was a DNP-CD when it mattered most in the Western Conference Semifinals. Phoenix flirted with the idea of chasing Brogdon before signing Ricky Rubio back in 2019. Three years later, bringing Brogdon to the Valley as the Suns&rsquo; short-term backup and long-term fit alongside Devin Booker is a home run transaction.
Also, there has been some buzz that the Suns are trying to get into the 2022 NBA Draft. They have met with multiple players projected to be selected in the mid-to-late first round, including LSU&rsquo;s Tari Eason, Ohio State&rsquo;s E.J. Liddell and Duke&rsquo;s Wendell Moore. Adding any of those prospects will be impossible without adding a pick. The Suns could always buy an early second-round pick for $3 million, but that&rsquo;s never been their way of thinking.
Is this where Suns GM James Jones could get creative to snag a championship piece at discounted value? Brogdon and Chris Paul sharing minutes is a dream scenario for Phoenix since all 48 minutes at point guard would provide well above-average production. Also, we could see three-guard lineups galore thanks to Brogdon&rsquo;s versatility.
In this scenario, Indiana would add a shooter in Shamet who only has two guaranteed years left on his extension. Maybe Shamet could be their Buddy Hield replacement if they also decide to trade him soon. Adding a future first for Brogdon is the right risk for Indiana to take as well.
Utah Jazz
Pacers receive: Mike Conley, Jared Butler, 2025 2nd-round pick
Jazz receive: Malcolm Brogdon
The Jazz desperately need to shake things up. Stagnation is on the horizon in Salt Lake City, if it hasn&rsquo;t reached that point already. Utah may blow it up this offseason, but even if they don't, they need to do something in order to keep Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert happy long-term.
As we saw during the Jazz&rsquo;s quick postseason exit, Conley seems like a shell of himself. Looking back on that trade now, Utah has to be kicking themselves for surrendering so much for the veteran point guard.
Utah needs to get creative to avoid moving one of Mitchell or Gobert soon, so Conley going back home to Indianapolis makes a lot of sense here. Brogdon is a huge upgrade over Conley, and he helps address a dire need of perimeter defense.
Indiana would add a veteran mentor for Haliburton to lean on for a year since Conley&rsquo;s contract isn&rsquo;t fully guaranteed in 2023-24. Adding a young scoring guard in Butler alongside a future second-round pick might not be enough for the Pacers, but it's at least enough to start negotiations.
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Los Angeles Lakers
Pacers receive: Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker, 2023 2nd, 2025 2nd, 2027 1st (lottery protected)
Lakers receive: Malcolm Brogdon, Buddy Hield, Goga Bitadze
This only makes sense if the Pacers are willing to take on the final year of Westbrook&rsquo;s contract, which would have any team second-guessing themselves beforehand. Surprisingly enough, Indiana is actually the betting favorite to land Westbrook if the Lakers offload him this offseason.
The Pacers would need a hefty return in order take on Westbrook while also relinquishing Brogdon and Hield. Adding Horton-Tucker, two future second-round picks and the Lakers&rsquo; next available first-round selection gets the job done. Los Angeles would hate to part with THT and even more draft capital, but Brogdon and Hield are perfect pieces to place alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Who knows, maybe Bitadze slides into the Lakers&rsquo; rotation as the backup center?
Indiana is embracing a full-scale rebuild, and pulling off a move like this would be consistent with that approach.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Pacers receive: D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, No. 19 pick, No. 40 pick
Timberwolves receive: Malcolm Brogdon, Goga Bitadze, No. 31 pick, 2023 2nd (via San Antonio Spurs)
As <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-dangelo-russell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our Nekias Duncan recently wrote</a>, a D&rsquo;Angelo Russell departure from Minnesota feels imminent this summer. It&rsquo;s another unfortunate turn in the career for Russell, who continues to bounce around the Association, unable to find a long-term home. The fit in Minnesota alongside good friend Karl-Anthony Towns had its moments, but Russell&rsquo;s negatives popped up in the postseason when it mattered most. After being benched in crunch-time situations by head coach Chris Finch and not having his name mentioned in The Athletic&rsquo;s recent story on new executive Tim Connelly, it wouldn't be shocking to see Russell playing elsewhere in 2022-23.
Even with the Pacers already having Haliburton and Chris Duarte, this feels like a spot where they could take a year-long look at Russell as a potential long-term backcourt piece. As a former top-three pick, Russell would bring more fanfare to the Pacers&rsquo; rebuild. And if he meshes well alongside Haliburton, Russell could become a long-term piece in Indiana and finally find a home.
From the Timberwolves&rsquo; point of view, this makes a whole lot of sense. Brogdon is a much better fit alongside Towns and Anthony Edwards, as he's easily able to slide into the No. 3 scoring role while providing an ideal complementary low-usage skill set. Taking a flier on Bitadze, a former top-20 pick, is also interesting, and as he could back up Towns.
Miami Heat
Pacers receive: Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, 2023 1st (lottery protected)
Heat receive: Malcolm Brogdon
As we&rsquo;ve seen unfold late in the postseason, Miami needs to find another offensive creator. Simply put, the Heat need more weapons to compete with the NBA&rsquo;s current juggernauts. Luckily for Miami, some much-needed flexibility could be on the way.
The Duncan Robinson contract looks like a disaster, but what if they could use his bloated salary and some future draft capital to bring in an immediate impact piece? Brogdon feels like the perfect remedy for Miami since he can take playmaking pressure off of Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry. Brogdon and Lowry could split minutes, which is a huge benefit for both players and would help keep them fresh and out of the training room.
For Indiana, they could be comfortable taking on Robinson&rsquo;s contract with all of their salary-cap space currently available. Adding Strus and a draft pick could make this deal worth it for the Pacers.
All of a sudden, Miami is now in a strong position to make another deep postseason push with Brogdon onboard for 2022-23 and beyond.
***
Every team in the NBA needs shooting, defensive versatility and playmaking. Even with his injury history, Brogdon would be well worth the risk for any team looking to take the next step forward.
If Brogdon is able to stay healthy, adding him at this price could be a coup for whichever team is next after Milwaukee and Indiana.
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With the Tyrese Haliburton era blossoming for the Pacers, Malcolm Brogdon is one of the most logical NBA trade candidates.

Examining potential trade destinations for Malcolm Brogdon

<a href="https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/1530323908720730121" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Erik Spoelstra confirmed to reporters</a> that Tyler Herro is officially out tonight for Game 6.
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Tyler Herro is officially out tonight, per Erik Spoelstra.
&mdash; Jay King (@ByJayKing) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/1530323908720730121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2022</a></blockquote>

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ANALYSIS:&nbsp;Not having Tyler Herro in the most important game of the season is going to hurt Miami. Herro has not been good in this series, averaging 12.3 points on 39.6 shooting from the field, but he is a shot creator on a team that is desperate for shot creation right now. Even if he's not hitting his shots, opponents treat him like a threat. Not having makes Miami's offense much less dynamic.

Erik Spoelstra confirmed that Tyler Herro will not be playing in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals because of his groin injury.

Spo: Tyler Herro out for Game 6 (Groin)

Jayson Tatum wants experience to be the Celtics&rsquo; guide as they return home with a chance to wrap up their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2010.
Tatum was a rookie during Boston&rsquo;s run to Eastern Conference finals in 2018, when it grabbed a 3-2 series lead over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He also remembers what it felt like as the Celtics watched James unravel their dreams with a 46-point performance in the Cavaliers&rsquo; Game 6 win, followed by a 35-point effort in Cleveland&rsquo;s decisive Game 7 victory at TD Garden.
Boston again has a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-miami-heat-nba-sports-gabe-vincent-301bb4ce3cbdc51c2105c1e6f8d8c7df?utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=AP_Sports&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow">3-2 conference finals lead,</a> this time over the top-seeded Miami Heat with Game 6 set for Friday.
Tatum said this feels different.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a lot better. (Jaylen Brown) is. We&rsquo;re just older. And we&rsquo;ve been through those tough times," Tatum said. "But the mindset and the talk that we had after the game was we were down 3-2 last time (in semifinals vs. Bucks) and had to go on the road to win Game 6 and we did. So we can&rsquo;t think that it&rsquo;s over with.&rdquo;
Tatum wants to see Boston maintain the mentality of the underdog.
&ldquo;We need to go back home like we&rsquo;re down 3-2. With that sense of urgency that it&rsquo;s a must-win game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Not relaxing because we&rsquo;re up. ... The job&rsquo;s just not finished yet.&rdquo;
The Celtics do seem to be facing a Heat team that over the past two games hasn&rsquo;t come close to resembling the one that won Games 1 and 3.
All-Star Jimmy Butler insists he&rsquo;s fine but appears to be at least slowed by the right knee inflammation that sidelined him during the second half of Miami&rsquo;s Game 3 win. Over the past two games, he&rsquo;s scored just 19 points while shooting 7 of 32 from the field.
Kyle Lowry has all but disappeared offensively since returning from a hamstring injury and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro has missed the past two games with a groin injury.
It&rsquo;s all contributed to the Heat going from shooting an NBA-best 38% from the 3-point line during the regular season to just 29% in the conference finals.
&ldquo;Honestly, it doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m out there, I gotta do better. I gotta find a way to help us win and I haven&rsquo;t been doing that. I&rsquo;m fine, my knee is OK. I just gotta do better. It&rsquo;s no excuse.&rdquo;
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said his faith in his team remains strong.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still alive,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all we&rsquo;re thinking about right now. We have the kind of warriors that are gonna tape up, brace up, do whatever we gotta do to get ready for the next one and just embrace and enjoy that competition.&rdquo;
HISTORY LESSON
There have been 333 times a best-of-seven NBA playoff series has been 3-2.
Of those, the team taking the 3-2 lead has gone on to win 83.8% of the time. But a team trailing has come back to win a series on at least two occasions in each of the past three years, including the Celtics and Mavericks in this year's conference semifinals.
CLOSING IT OUT
The Celtics are 86-68 in closeout games. That includes a 48-19 record at home.
Jaylen Brown said they want to feed off the energy they know awaits them at the Garden. He said the message after Game 5 was simple.
&ldquo;This is a great opportunity. Leave everything on the floor. You don&rsquo;t want any feelings of regret,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s come out Friday on our home floor and play the best version of basketball that we&rsquo;ve played all season.
___
AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

Boston has a 3-2 conference finals lead, this time over the top-seeded Heat with Game 6 set for Friday.

Celtics head home looking to close out top-seeded Heat

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jaylen Brown scored 25 points, Jayson Tatum added 22 and the Boston Celtics moved to the brink of a berth in the NBA Finals, running away after halftime to beat the Miami Heat 93-80 on Wednesday night and take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference title series.
Al Horford had 16 points and Derrick White added 14 for the Celtics. Tatum finished with 12 rebounds and nine assists.
Bam Adebayo scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Heat, who shot 32% in the game &mdash; after shooting 33% in Boston&rsquo;s 20-point win in Game 4. Gabe Vincent added 15, Jimmy Butler had 13 and Duncan Robinson scored 11 for Miami.
The Heat were 7 for 45 from 3-point range.
Game 6 is in Boston on Friday night, where a pair of newly named trophies bearing the names of Celtics legends will be waiting. The Bob Cousy trophy goes to the East champs, the Larry Bird trophy to the East finals MVP, and the Celtics are one win away from being the first team to hoist them.
This series has seen massive momentum swings &mdash; a 44-14 Miami run in Game 1, a 60-21 Boston run in Game 2, a 46-20 Miami run to open Game 3 followed by a 57-33 Boston run in the same game, and a 26-4 spurt by the Celtics to open Game 4.
The Game 5 run was just as one-sided.
The score over a 6 1/2-minute stretch of the second half: Celtics 24, Heat 2. The turnaround was 59-58 Boston to 83-60 Boston, and that was that.
Boston outscored Miami 32-16 in the third quarter, holding the Heat to 17% shooting in that period. The margin was only 11 at that point &mdash; but soon, the game was in zero doubt. A 14-2 run was how Boston opened the fourth quarter, Brown capping the flurry by making three 3-pointers in a span of 2 1/2 minutes, and the lead was out to 23.
<a href="https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1529658342313975808?s=20&amp;t=sVr3DFOwSLjhCE3Kfpan-Q">Brown then sealed matters with a down-the-lane dunk</a> with 5:19 left, the lead was 18 at that point and the countdown was on for Boston.
The Celtics haven't reached the NBA Finals since 2010. There have been four East finals trips since then, with two losses to Miami and two to Cleveland. There were also two chances &mdash; Game 6 in 2012 against the Heat and Game 7 in 2018 against the Cavaliers &mdash; when the Celtics had a chance to claim the conference title simply by winning a game on their home floor.
They lost both, LeBron James serving as the official thwarter both times, with 45 points to save Miami in the 2012 game and 35 to lift Cleveland in the 2018 clincher.
He won&rsquo;t be in the Celtics&rsquo; way Friday night.
Miami will need somebody to provide some semblance of an impersonation.
Offense was in short supply in the first half, but Miami's defense appeared to be giving the Heat hope. Miami led 19-17 after one and 42-37 at the break. Tatum was 1 for 9 at intermission, Butler 2 for 8, and the teams combined to shoot 37.8% from the field and 21.6% from 3-point range.
It was the lowest-scoring first half of a conference finals game since May 28, 2014, when the Heat and Indiana combined for 75 points at the break in what eventually became a 93-90 Pacers win.
And Miami, somehow, got colder to start the second half. The Celtics did not.
The Heat missed their first nine shots from the field after the break, not getting anything to fall until Butler fended off contact and scored on a drive that got Miami within 49-48 with 6:53 left in the third.
But soon, the Celtics had control. Of the game. And the series.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Marcus Smart picked up two fouls in the first 3:51 of the first quarter, then picked up two more in the first 3:15 of the third quarter. ... White and Robert Williams III were a combined 7 for 8 in the first half, while the rest of their teammates were a combined 6 for 26.
Heat: Tyler Herro (groin) missed a second consecutive game. ... Max Strus was 0 for 9, Kyle Lowry was 0 for 6, and the Heat starting guards are a combined 1 for 28 in their last two games. ... Miami missed its first six shots, a marked improvement after missing its first 14 to start Game 4.
HORFORD WATCH
Game 6 will be the 140th playoff game for Horford. Nobody has been in more postseason contests without appearing in the NBA Finals &mdash; something that he and the Celtics could change with one more win over Miami.
CELEBS
DJ Khaled was back in his customary seat near the Heat bench. Among the other stars in the sellout crowd: Alex Rodriguez, Paul Pogba, Jimmy Buffett, Xavien Howard and Brooks Koepka.

Led by big scoring games from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics moved to within one game of the NBA Finals.

Celtics run past Heat 93-80, move 1 win from NBA Finals

Back. Forth. Back. Forth.
The Miami Heat want to see that pattern continue. The Boston Celtics hope to break that trend. And the team that prevails Wednesday night will be one game away from the NBA Finals.
The Eastern Conference finals has been nothing more than a series of mood swings, with matters set to resume with Game 5 on Wednesday in Miami. The top-seeded Heat and second-seeded Celtics are knotted up at two games apiece; the Heat rallied in the second half to take <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-boston-celtics-nba-sports-jimmy-butler-5b5681ec485608add59e6eb15f24ee9f">Game 1,</a> Boston used a huge first-half run to respond and win <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-miami-heat-nba-sports-07cae0349b8cf097f37d7b4ba1a08e8f">Game 2,</a> Miami answered back in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-boston-celtics-nba-sports-jimmy-butler-c3b24c22ddc72b729933c338e2bf9581">Game 3</a> and the Celtics romped in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-boston-celtics-nba-sports-payton-pritchard-ed61092632890921ad8955f047a9c3c7">Game 4.</a>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not surprising,&rdquo; Boston coach Ime Udoka said Tuesday. &ldquo;Two teams that are always going to fight, not really beat themselves, give themselves a chance. I&rsquo;ve known Miami and (Heat coach Erik Spoelstra) for a while now and that&rsquo;s the epitome of who they are &mdash; toughness. Both teams have matched that energy coming off of losses, and now it&rsquo;s our turn to react better to a win.&rdquo;
The Celtics &mdash; even without defensive player of the year Marcus Smart, sidelined again, this time with a sprained ankle &mdash; left no doubt in Game 4, running out to an 18-1 lead to open the game and never coming close to giving up control.
Miami&rsquo;s starters combined for 18 points in Game 4 &mdash; yes, combined, the lowest such total for a starting five in a playoff game in at least 40 years. The Heat were without Tyler Herro because of a groin issue, Jimmy Butler didn&rsquo;t look right (though insisted he was) after missing half of Game 3 with knee soreness, and Kyle Lowry, Max Strus and P.J. Tucker combined to shoot 1 for 17.
It was ugly. But Spoelstra, somehow, still sees beauty in how the series has gone.
There hasn&rsquo;t been a lead change since the first quarter of Game 2; Boston grabbed control of that game and never let go, Miami took a huge early lead in Game 3 and held on late but never ceded the lead entirely and the Celtics took a stranglehold on Game 4 from the opening seconds.
&ldquo;What you&rsquo;re looking at is a great series,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s 2-2. You have to embrace that and come together, and hopefully this competition brings out the absolute best in all of us.&rdquo;
Game 5s, in a tie series, are always swing games. When a series is knotted at 2-2, the Game 5 winner in a best-of-seven series ultimately prevails 82% of the time.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of like a new series,&rdquo; Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum said. &ldquo;Best of three.&rdquo;
FOUL MOODS
Boston took 40 more free throws than Miami in Games 3 and 4 combined; the differential was 24 in Game 4 alone. The issue is aggression (or lack thereof), Butler said. &ldquo;I think we have to be more of a forceful-type team, getting into the paint, not shying away from contact and playing from the inside out,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;Whenever we do that and not shoot as many jumpers, we might get fouled a little bit.&rdquo;
QUARTER SCORES
The Celtics have lost three quarters and two games in this series. Of the 16 quarters so far in this matchup, the Celtics have won nine and tied four others. The two quarters that hurt Boston the most are obvious: the third quarter of Game 1 (Miami winning 39-14 to turn that game around) and the first quarter of Game 3 (Miami winning 39-18 to set the tone for that win). The other quarter that the Heat won was meaningless, with Miami outscoring Boston 30-26 in the fourth of the Game 4 blowout.
2-2 HISTORY
The Heat are 9-6 all-time in best-of-seven series that are tied after four games, including 1-0 this season after beating Philadelphia in the East semifinals. The Celtics are 34-13 in best-of-sevens that are 2-2 going into Game 5, also 1-0 this season &mdash; after losing Game 5 to Milwaukee in the East semifinals but winning the final two games of that series.
ODDSMAKERS SAY
Boston is favored by 1.5 points in Game 5 as of Tuesday, <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba">according to FanDuel Sportsbook.</a> That could change, of course, based on injury news and other variables. Miami is 4-1 outright as a home underdog this season and has been favored in 35 of its last 36 home games entering Wednesday.
INJURIES
The Heat are waiting to see if Herro can play in Game 5, and have been dealing with Butler (knee), Lowry (hamstring), Tucker (ankle), Strus (hamstring) and Gabe Vincent (hamstring) being at least mildly limited in recent games. Smart is still trying to get the soreness out of his sprained ankle, and Celtics center Robert Williams III &mdash; who has been slowed in this series by ongoing recovery from knee surgery &mdash; said he emerged from Game 4 without significant issues.

The Eastern Conference finals has been nothing more than a series of mood swings, with matters set to resume with Game 5.

Heat, Celtics now in a best-of-three to decide the East title

Jayson Tatum scored 31 points and the Boston Celtics took their turn pounding the Miami Heat early, jumping out to a 26-4 lead and cruising to a 102-82 victory that evened the Eastern Conference finals at two games apiece.
Miami missed 15 of its first 16 shots in the second straight game that was all but over after 12 minutes. The Heat led 39-18 after the first quarter of Game 3 of this bizarre series in which no game has been close down the stretch.
Game 5 is Wednesday in Miami.
Payton Pritchard had 14 points for the Celtics. Derrick White added 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Robert Williams finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Celtics led by 27 points in the second quarter and stretched their advantage to 32 in the third. Each game in this series has featured a lead of at least 20 points.
Victor Oladipo led the Heat with 23 points. Miami&rsquo;s starting five of All-Star Jimmy Butler (six points), Kyle Lowry (three points), P.J. Tucker (no points), Max Strus (no points) and Bam Adebayo (nine points) were a combined 7 of 36 shooting. They all sat out the fourth quarter.
And the Celtics stymied the Heat without Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, who sat with a sprained right ankle he suffered in the second half of Game 3.
The Heat were without Tyler Herro, who suffered a groin injury late in Game 3.
Butler was in the starting lineup after missing the second half of Game 3 with swelling in his right knee. Lowry (strained left hamstring), Strus (strained hamstring) and Tucker (left knee irritation) all tested their injuries pregame before being cleared to go.
Boston&rsquo;s Williams returned after missing a game with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee.
Even with their banged-up roster, the Celtics enjoyed their fastest start of the series. Starting in place of Smart, White scored the game&rsquo;s first seven points as Boston took an 8-0 lead.
It quickly grew to 18-1, with Miami misfiring on its first 14 shots. The Heat didn&rsquo;t get their first points until Adebayo&rsquo;s free throw at the 7:56 mark. Miami made its first field goal at 3:22, a 3-pointer by Oladipo, and finished the quarter 3 for 20.
The Celtics took a 29-11 lead into the second quarter and led 57-33 at the half.
TIP-INS
Heat: Shot 33% (30 of 90). ... Finished with 64 bench points. ... Miami had one point in the first eight minutes, the lowest total by any team in a playoff game in the last quarter-century, according to ESPN Stats &amp; Info.
Celtics: Outrebounded Miami 20-8 in the first quarter. ... Several current and former New England Patriots were in the crowd, including Devin and Jason McCourty, Malcolm Butler and Damien Harris.

Jayson Tatum scored 31 points and the Celtics took their turn pounding the Heat early, jumping out to a 26-4 lead and cruised.

Celtics torch Heat early, even series with 102-82 blowout

The Miami Heat announced that Tyler Herro will miss Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals versus the Boston Celtics due to a groin injury.
Jimmy Butler &ndash; who has been dealing with a sore knee &ndash; along with Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, and Gabe Vincent all intend to play.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MIAvsBOS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MIAvsBOS</a> INJURY UPDATE: Tyler Herro (groin) has been ruled out of tonight&rsquo;s Game 4 vs the Celtics. Jimmy Butler (knee), Kyle Lowry (hamstring), Max Strus (hamstring), Gabe Vincent (hamstring) &amp; P.J. Tucker (knee) will all warm up with the intent to play.
&mdash; Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1528762445375885318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Heat guard Tyler Herro will miss Game 4 versus the Celtics due to a groin injury while Jimmy Butler is hopeful to play.

Miami's Herro out for Game 4; Butler intends to play

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; The Heat were embarrassed in Game 2, surrendering home-court advantage in their blowout loss to the Celtics in their Eastern Conference finals matchup.
Miami returned the favor in Game 3, building a 26-point first-half lead en route to hanging on for a 109-103 victory despite star Jimmy Butler sitting out the second half with swelling in his right knee. Tyler Herro also didn&rsquo;t play the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter because of a groin injury.
With Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum (stinger) and Marcus Smart (sprained ankle) also suffering injuries late, the Celtics went from a chance to take control of the series to now trying to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time in two months.
In addition to Tatum and Smart, center Robert Williams III sat out Game 3 with swelling in his surgically repaired left knee.
As expected, Celtics coach Ime Udoka said the trainer&rsquo;s table was busy on Saturday.
&ldquo;Marcus has some swelling in his ankle. Took a pretty bad sprain. Finished the game, but he&rsquo;s gonna feel it a little more today,&rdquo; Udoka said.
&ldquo;Getting worked on and getting treatment. See how he feels tomorrow. Jayson is fine. It&rsquo;s a stinger that went away pretty quickly. And the Rob has improved. Feels better than he did yesterday. &hellip; It&rsquo;s day to day. We&rsquo;ll test it out tomorrow and see how he feels.&rdquo;
Tatum (nerve impingement) is probable for Game 4, with Smart and Williams both listed as questionable. (Editor's Note: Smart has been ruled out for Game 4.)
Miami beating back a late-game charge by Boston to preserve a victory and take a 2-1 series lead is an encouraging sign for a Heat team that was 15-10 without Butler during the regular season. The Heat also wrapped up their first-round series against Atlanta without both Butler and Kyle Lowry.
Lowry played for the first time in this series Saturday, finishing with 11 points, six assists and four steals in 29 minutes. He had missed eight of the previous 10 games with a right hamstring injury.
He said it felt good to be back, but acknowledged it was tough to see both Butler and Herro added to their injury list &mdash; potentially again leaving Miami at less than full strength.
&ldquo;Just having an opportunity to be out there with my guys is always fun,&rdquo; Lowry said. &ldquo;Injuries are a part of the game. That&rsquo;s the part that sucks about the game, the injuries, and this is tough. Jimmy is a warrior. Tyler is a warrior. But we have to continue to stay focused on what we did as a group ... and hopefully those guys will be back and ready to go next game.&rdquo;
The Heat listed Buter (knee), Lowry (hamstring), Herro (groin) Max Strus (hamstring), Gabe Vincent (hamstring) and P.J. Tucker (knee) as questionable for Game 4. (Editor's Note: Herro was ruled out late Monday morning by the Heat for Game 4.)
Whoever Miami ultimately has available on Monday, Udoka said the onus will be on the Celtics to limit their unforced errors.
Boston turned the ball over a 2022 playoff-high 24 times in Game 3, leading to 33 Miami points. The Heat also had 22 more shots that the Celtics.
&ldquo;Obviously those things stand out and a lot were us playing to the crowd, trying to do too much and not making the simple pass,&rdquo; Udoka said. &ldquo;When you look at those areas, we&rsquo;ve had some good carryover at times, but at times taken a step back.
Tatum said avoiding what seems to be Miami&rsquo;s magic number of 39 will also be paramount. Miami had a 39-point third quarter to take control in Game 1 and outscored the Celtics 39-18 in the first quarter of Game 3.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse. We can&rsquo;t spot them 39 points in the first quarter. Obviously we were just trying to overcome that the rest of the game,&rdquo; Tatum said. &ldquo;So we&rsquo;ve obviously got to be better starting the game for sure.&rdquo;
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Both the Celtics and Heat will try to overcome injuries in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals with Miami holding a 2-1 lead.

Trainer's room busy as Heat, Celtics prepare for Game 4

The energy in The Bay was palpable, a crowd starved for its team's first Western Conference Finals berth since 2019. The dominant rule of this Golden State dynasty had been rudely interrupted by a once-in-a-generation global pandemic, a slew of untimely injuries and a superstar migrating across the country to skyscraping lands. Even the Chase Center flooring glimmered in anticipation.
The only thing that gleamed more was the twinkle in the eye of the Warriors' team defense.
The Warriors faced a new challenge in the West Finals, going from containing the quick-twitch athleticism strewn across the Memphis Grizzlies' roster to now containing the pick-and-roll craftsmanship of Luka Doncic, arguably the best player of the 2022 postseason. Luka's a nightmare to deal with, to say the least. He can attack your bigs or smalls on switches in isolation. He makes passes that only a select few across the globe can make should he even gain the slightest bit of an advantage. Most of all, he's a true-blue three-level scorer, geared up with step-back threes, post-ups with Dirk Nowitzki-legged fadeaways, sikly floaters and elongated layups at his disposal.&nbsp;
Containing a player of that ilk is not as simple as just throwing one perimeter player his way and hoping for the best. And while Luka's primary defender, Andrew Wiggins, did an admirable job on Wednesday of holding Doncic to 4-of-10 shooting, it was Golden State's medley of defensive coverages that kept Dallas at bay during the 25-point evisceration.&nbsp;
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Steve Kerr's crew threw out six different coverages in the first half &mdash; blitzes, hedge-and-recovers, a shallow drop coverage, pick-and-roll switches, a 3-2 zone and even a Box-and-1 &mdash; to stifle Dallas' second-ranked playoff half-court offense to a crawl. Golden State's coordinated chaos worked effectively, as Dallas put up just 78.8 points per 100 possessions in the half-court during Game 1 (10th percentile, yikes!), well below the 101.3 Offensive Rating that Dallas normally averages in this setting.&nbsp;
We'll touch on a few of those coverages momentarily, but it was Golden State's zone looks that were particularly interesting. The Mavericks haven't seen a ton of zones this postseason, especially coming off a series against the Phoenix Suns that featured mostly drop coverage or the occasional switch with Deandre Ayton manning the middle.
Interestingly, Golden State aligned its 3-2 zone so that Stephen Curry was atop the formation, meaning that he was typically Luka Doncic's primary defender. This goes against conventional thinking; normally, you'd expect the Warriors to hide Curry in the corners on one of Dallas' non-threatening options (think: how Miami deployed Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro in the 2020 postseason) instead of guarding the best mismatch-hunter on the floor. The Warriors, however, felt confident about shuttling defensive possessions to Curry at the point-of-attack, trusting their superstar to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/stephen-currys-defense-continues-to-shine-for-the-warriors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">utilize his best defensive attribute</a> &mdash; his quick hands&mdash; to frustrate Maverick ball-handlers.
Of course, it helps with Wiggins and Draymond Green situated at the nearby wings, able to sink down and contain should Doncic bullrush his way past the slighter Curry. That's exactly what happened during this first-quarter possession below; Curry bothered Doncic's dribble by sticking in an arm, and when Doncic gathered himself and prepared his attack, Wiggins provided assistance at the nail to erase the driving lane and coerce the kick out. Jalen Brunson, of course, misses the spot-up three (a trend on Wednesday night), and Golden State gets its desired result from the 3-2 zone.
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There's some irony in the Warriors &mdash; the same team that once complained about Toronto's "junk defenses" in the 2019 NBA Finals &mdash; throwing out Box-and-1s to fluster Dallas' heliocentric offense. And yet, a minute later, Golden State busted out that janky look, with Curry, Jordan Poole, Green, and Otto Porter Jr. spread across the lane lines to form the "box," and Wiggins smothering Luka from basically the mid-court line.
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When Maxi Kleber comes to set a screen for Doncic, Poole and Wiggins trap Luka and use the sideline as a third defender to force the pass. Dallas hot-potatoes the ball across the perimeter, frantically searching for a vialble option, and eventually the Mavs are left with a 27-foot three from Kleber. A result the Warriors will live with.
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The Mavericks mustered up just 18 total points in the first quarter, which effectively set the tone for the rest of Game 1. Looking ahead after the brutal loss, it begs the question: Where can the Mavericks go next?
Well, there's the obvious answer, for one: Make more friggin' threes. Duh. The Mavericks whiffed on 37 of their 48 total outside looks, with some of those misses being <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT-vnjKYwf0&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pretty dang brutal</a>. But there's more to the game than just blindly hoping for better results.
Thinning Out the Hedges
As mentioned, one of the coverages that Golden State threw at Luka was hedging and recovering on pick-and-rolls. Typically, this was done when Doncic and the Mavericks looked to target Curry in screening actions. Dallas would have Curry's defender &mdash; Reggie Bullock in the first clip; Spencer Dinwiddie in the second&mdash;set a screen on Luka's defender, Wiggins.
Rather than having Curry switch outright onto Doncic, Steph would instead jump out toward the 6-foot-8 ball-handler to buy Wiggins time as he recovered back to his assignment. Though it goes in, a tightly contested step-back three &mdash; which Luka is shooting just 32.1% on in the postseason &mdash; is a result the Warriors can stomach, especially with one of its smallest defenders (Curry) involved in the play.
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Thus, going at Curry with a slew of straight pick-and-rolls wasn't particularly profitable in Game 1. Golden State is too experienced, too disciplined and too even-tempered to be caught off-guard by opponents repeatedly targetting its superstar. After all, that's been the game plan since, what, 2015? Steph is well-versed in evading such narrow offensive game planning.
But Dallas has some unexplored avenues.
One such way could be to mix in more slips to the rim. Below, after Golden State pre-switches to initially neutralize the Doncic-Bullock pick-and-roll, Luka calls for a second screen from Brunson to bring Curry into the fold. When Steph hedges, Brunson then cuts to the rim instead of flaring out to the perimeter. And although the possession is smothered by Draymond Green audibling a switch with Curry and playing some free safety (goodness was he ever incredible in Game 1!), Dallas was able to get two feet into the middle of the paint to make decisions.&nbsp;
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Flipping the angle of the screen at the very last second, which is something the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/grizzlies-flattening-out-the-warriors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grizzlies did against the Warriors</a> in the second round, is a counter yet to be tested by the Mavericks' offense. When Dallas did elect to re-screen in Game 1, it was only because the initial screen failed to connect.&nbsp;
Dallas could also add some intricacy to its pick-and-rolls by forcing Golden State to navigate secondary screens. Screen-the-screener (STS) plays were, once again, something the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/memphisminnesota-game-5-was-a-masterclass-in-playcalling-wizardry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grizzlies tinkered with</a> in the earlier rounds of the postseason, and forcing Curry to navigate an off-ball screen before being dragged into a ball-screen for Luka could put him behind the play, thus throwing off the timing of his hedge.
All Doncic needs is a moment of hesitation to create for himself or others, so mixing in each of the following&mdash; re-screens, slips to the rim, ram screens and/or STS plays and straight pick-and-roll&mdash;to keep the Warriors on pins and needles could prove to make the difference going forward.
Sniffing Out the Proper Switches
So yes, scoping out Curry on pick-and-roll-induced switches didn't go as planned for Dallas in Game 1 given his comfort level with hedging those plays into oblivion; but that's not to say that Dallas failed to get any sort of traction when Golden State swapped assignments after ball screens.
Here's something that should keep Mavericks fans up at night: Dallas was hunting the wrong Warrior guard. Poole was tested by both of Dallas' secondary and tertiary options (Brunson and Dinwiddie), and he looked like a fish out of water on switches. Collectively, Dinwiddie and Brunson went 2-for-3 from the field when defended by Poole in Game 1.
Dinwiddie is both too tall and too quick to be even slightly bothered by Golden State's prolific 22-year-old, and Brunson's veteran craft left Poole stumbling. Jalen's portfolio of pump-fakes, B-Boy dancer pivots and up-and-unders was one hell of a handful for the third-year player.
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Even when Golden State attempted to hide Poole with hedges, he just wasn't disciplined enough to masterfully pull off this coverage with regularity. Here, he "shows" (or hedges) way, way too high up the floor against Brunson, who has yet to burn Golden State with pull-up threes, and Poole ends up getting flamb&eacute;d in isolation.
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Dallas' one-two punch of Doncic and Brunson also got off some pretty clean looks when served up Kevon Looney on a platter. Look, Looney had himself one hell of a Wednesday evening and was maybe the Game 1 MVP, but his lateral mobility was tested by Dallas' lead options. Take a look for yourself:
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Dallas should continue to hammer this home in the series. Though it's admirable that Looney feels empowered to pick up individual creators of Doncic and Brunson's ilk so high up the floor, his hip flexibility doesn't afford him the requisite oomph when changing directions on either player's array of dribbling moves. Doncic found relative consistency in forcing Golden State rotations and passing to open shooters after beating Looney off the dribble; Brunson, meanwhile, danced and jitterbugged his way to his spots to go 3-of-4 when defended by the Warriors' starting center.
It's integral that Dallas continues to exhaust Curry by involving him in a never-ending loop of pick-and-rolls. The more mileage put on his body defensively, the better. But there's also some value in getting some easy ones against guys like Looney and Poole.
Other notes:
<ul>
<li>Testing Klay Thompson, still fresh off two major injuries, is inherently not a terrible idea. Doing so by posting him up and allowing him to use his strong base and 6-6 frame, however, is not so brilliant. Doncic wasn't able to gain any ground against Golden State's sturdy wing, and the Mavericks would be better suited having the bursty Dinwiddie or even the guileful Brunson go at Thompson in space.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Speaking of Brunson, how often he can make Golden State pay via pull-up threes should be a major theme in the West Finals. Golden State regularly went under ball-screens against Brunson, daring him to shoot, and he responded with a whole bundle of record-scratch moments. Brunson has shot a combined 30.4% on pull-up three-pointers in the regular season and the postseason on just 105 total attempts, and if he continues to feign at chucking them up when the defense drifts underneath screens, Dallas' offense will sludge itself to death.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>The Mavericks are one of those teams where you just wish they'd incorporate a little more movement into their offense. Dallas leaves food on the table with screening actions on the weak side of the floor, and it allows the low man to stay engaged when helping over should Doncic (or Brunson or Dinwiddie) discover a crack in the defense. That's particularly problematic against a team like the Warriors and Green, a hellish secondary defender to tangle with. Notice how Golden State preoccupies Luka, the low man in the clip below, with screening action between Wiggins and Thompson. When Looney slips to the rim, Doncic is late on his rotation because of the ensuing traffic on the weak side.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
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It'd be great if Dallas could incorporate some of&nbsp;that&nbsp;stuff into their pick-and-roll heavy offense.
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Matt Brooks goes in-depth to break down what the Mavericks can improve on offensively against a stout Warriors defense.

How the Warriors' defense flummoxed Dallas, and where the Mavs go next

Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown each had 24 and the Boston Celtics dominated the first half to roll past the Miami Heat 127-102 on Thursday night and tie the Eastern Conference finals at a game apiece.
Smart was a rebound shy of a triple-double, after adding 12 assists and nine rebounds.
Grant Williams scored 19 points for Boston, which used a 17-0 run late in the first quarter &mdash; fueled by five 3-pointers in the span of six possessions &mdash; to take control. Payton Pritchard and Al Horford each had 10 for the Celtics.
Jimmy Butler had 29 points in 32 minutes for Miami, which fell to 7-1 at home in these playoffs. Gabe Vincent and Victor Oladipo each scored 14 points, and Tyler Herro added 11 for the Heat.
The Celtics &mdash; now 4-0 in these playoffs in the game immediately following a loss &mdash; made 20 shots from 3-point range to Miami's 10. Game 3 is Saturday in Boston.
And the margin could have been worse: Boston led by as many as 34 points in the fourth, putting this game on the cusp of really good Celtics history and really bad Heat history. The Celtics' record for biggest postseason win ever is 40, the Heat record for biggest postseason loss ever is 36, and those numbers were within reach before a meaningless Miami run over the final moments.
Boston trailed by 10 in the first quarter, then outscored Miami 60-21 over the next 18 minutes &mdash; a 39-point turnaround that wound up leading to a 70-45 halftime lead.
The 25-point halftime lead was the biggest by the Celtics in any road playoff game, topping a 22-point edge at the break at Chicago in 2009.
Brown had 11 points in the first quarter, when the Celtics went 9 for 11 from 3-point range. Tatum then had 17 points in the second and Boston kept pulling away, on a day where everything went the Celtics&rsquo; way. They learned earlier in the day that two starters &mdash; Horford (virus-related issues) and Smart (mid-foot sprain) &mdash; were cleared to play in Game 2 after missing the series opener.
&ldquo;I got to get my rest, got to get my health back, got to watch and see some things and come out and execute in this game," Smart said.
And the good news kept coming well into the night.
Butler did all he could to try and manufacture a comeback, scoring 16 points in the third quarter and getting the Heat within 17. But a 12-2 run late in the quarter by the Celtics restored a 27-point edge. The lead was 96-71 going into the fourth and the outcome was never remotely close to being in question the rest of the way.
Miami didn't even use its starters in the fourth quarter.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Technically, Boston had one other &ldquo;road&rdquo; game with a bigger halftime lead. The Celtics were the designated visitor on Sept. 7, 2020 &mdash; in the bubble at Walt Disney World &mdash; when they led Toronto by 27 at the break. ... With Horford back, Grant Williams returned to his off-the-bench role. ... Tatum got his second foul with 4:14 left in the first, after charging into Butler. The entirety of the 17-0 run came with him on the bench.
Heat: Kyle Lowry (hamstring) sat for the eighth time in the last 10 games. ... It was the first game since Dallas-Atlanta on Feb. 1, 2020 in which both teams had a 10-point lead in the first quarter.... P.J. Tucker had Miami&rsquo;s first five points, all in the game&rsquo;s first 51 seconds. It was his 863rd career game, the first in which he had five points in the first minute. Those were his only points of the night, and he left in the third quarter with a left knee contusion.
25 TWICE
This Boston team is the sixth club in the last 25 years to have two separate games where it led by at least 25 points in Miami in the same season. The Celtics also did it on Nov. 4. The other teams who pulled it off: Milwaukee last season (won NBA title), San Antonio in 2013-14 (won NBA title), Boston in 2007-08 (won NBA title), Toronto (2007-08) and Charlotte (2000-01).
500 AND COUNTING
The Heat announced their 500th consecutive sellout, excluding games affected by the pandemic. Only Dallas (867 and counting), Portland (814 from 1977 through 1995), Boston (662 from 1980 through 1995) and Chicago (610 from 1987 through 2000) have streaks that the NBA counts as being longer.

Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown each had 24 and the Celtics dominated to roll past the Heat 127-102.

Celtics roll past Heat 127-102, tie East Finals at 1-1

Even as the Boston Celtics led in the first half of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, it only felt like a matter of time before the scoreboard would catch up to the Miami Heat offense.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Miami basically has a 105 offensive rating in the half court and the halftime show was almost entirely about offensive concerns.
&mdash; Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1526743543942873088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Then, the Heat exploded in the second half, opening on a 22-2 run and never looking back. They steamrolled the Celtics on both ends and Jimmy Butler took over en route to 41 points. Miami finished with an impressive Offensive Rating of 112.2 on half-court possessions, per Cleaning the Glass. That ranks in the 88th percentile of playoff games this season; according to our Nekias Duncan, the league average is 95.6 points per 100 possessions.&nbsp;
The Heat's success transcends their normal half-court production. Even with the Game 1 win, Miami is still averaging just 95.0 half-court points per 100 possessions in the playoffs, and the team's regular season rating was similarly low (97.6). And even taking the scope back to a base level &mdash; how many people expected the Heat to drop 118 points in the first game against one of the league's best defenses?
Sure, the Celtics were missing two key cogs in Marcus Smart and Al Horford, but it was still an impressive effort. It also exposed the dilemma Boston has with Payton Pritchard.
The second-year guard is the Celtics' best shooter in a rotation that sometimes needs a perimeter lifeline, and simultaneously, their worst defender in a scheme that can't afford porous perimeter defense.&nbsp;
Nekias was all over this in his pre-series scouting report and had a noteworthy stat after Game 1:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Pritchard was targeted 16 times in PnR tonight, and the Heat scored well over 1.2 points per possession on those trips 😵&zwj;💫<a href="https://t.co/Sh3NLiMvTK">https://t.co/Sh3NLiMvTK</a> <a href="https://t.co/eTxYIQKXDI">pic.twitter.com/eTxYIQKXDI</a>
&mdash; Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1526772020217798656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Heat went after Pritchard, who logged his postseason high with 30 minutes in the loss. They put him through the blender on screens and forced him to play chaser. At 6-foot-1 with a 6-foot-4 wingspan, Pritchard just doesn't have enough length to overcome falling into recovery mode.
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Prtichard also just struggles fighting through screens despite being fairly built for his size (listed around 200 pounds). That fourth clip is telling; he's pretty powerless against Butler, and it leads to an easy Max Strus three-pointer. Pritchard and Jaylen Brown could have communicated better on that play and had Brown chase after Strus, but it seems the job was supposed to be Pritchard's.&nbsp;
Miami then attacked Pritchard on the ball during its second-half surge.&nbsp;
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When Butler found 1-on-1 chances against Pritchard, the Heat superstar was able to get into his bag with relative ease. In the second clip, Pritchard stays up tight against Butler, and it looks like solid defense. But even that effort appears meaningless. Butler made one basic spin move, didn't need to counter and rose high above the contest for a confident make.&nbsp;
This isn't to say Pritchard is the primary reason for Boston's loss by any means. But he is going to be a matchup Miami hunts throughout this series. The Heat have players who are unbothered by his defense (Butler, Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo) and players who can wreak havoc against him away from the ball (Strus, Gabe Vincent).&nbsp;
The Celtics are going to be challenged when Pritchard is defending. Their trade-off is that he is, in many cases, their spark and offensive savior from long range. Through the postseason, opponents have dared complementary players like Grant Williams, Derrick White, Horford and Smart to shoot as defenses load up on Jayson Tatum and Brown. The one supporting cast member they cannot forget about is Pritchard.
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The 24-year-old has blossomed into one of the most efficient perimeter shooters in the entire NBA. Among all postseason players with at least 20 pull-up shot attempts, Pritchard ranks fourth with a 58.3% Effective Field Goal percentage. He ranked eighth among 171 players with at least 100 pull-up attempts in the regular season at 53.6%. Then, he turned around and made 42.8% of his catch-and-shoot threes in the regular season and finished 13th in overall three-point percentage (41.2%).
Pritchard has limitless range and enduring confidence. His threes came from 26 feet from the basket on average, according to The BBall Index, putting him in the 82nd percentile at his position. Aside from maybe Tatum, Pritchard is the only Celtic who could hoist up deep triples without inciting grimaces from fans.
His overall offensive game, though, is a bit more complicated.&nbsp;
Pritchard is a rock-solid passer. He's dished out 23 assists against just 3 turnovers in the playoffs so far; that 7.67 assist-to-turnover-ratio is the best among anyone who has been in at least eight playoff games. When he drives to the basket, he's able to make the right kick-out plays. The problem is his drives aren't threatening to opposing defenses.&nbsp;
Second Spectrum says that 221 players drove to the basket at least 150 times in the regular season. Pritchard passed out of his drives a whopping 60.7% of the time &mdash; the fourth-most of any such player. When he did attempt a shot, it didn't go so well; his 37.7% field goal percentage tied for 16th-worst. In his 173 regular-season drives, he scored 45 points. That 26.0% rate is, again, the fourth-lowest of the 221 qualifying players.
Pritchard has scarcely needed to drive the ball for most of the postseason, and had actually gone 4-for-4 on driving shots in the first two rounds. Then, we got to the conference finals, where he went 1-for-4 in Game 1.
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The burst just isn't there for Pritchard, who pounds the ball hard and tries to lower his shoulder without much success. Caleb Martin is a solid defender who walled Pritchard up in the first clip. Herro wasn't fazed in the second clip, and on an empty-corner drive, Bam Adebayo has plenty of time to help. Without a strong first step, Pritchard can't use his shooting threat to successfully attack closeouts. He doesn't get the head start that others, even Williams and White, receive.&nbsp;
Speaking of White &mdash; he'll be out for Game 2. Smart's availability is still up in the air as of this writing. That's possibly two dynamic attacking guards that the Celtics won't have in a critical second game, which means even more responsibility falls on Pritchard's shoulders.
Boston needs Payton Pritchard in its rotation. The perimeter prowess and reliable passing help keep a volatile offense from falling off the rails. But Ime Udoka and the Celtics' coaching staff have to figure out how to keep Miami away from matchup-hunting Pritchard and keep him in advantageous offensive positions. He'll be an X-factor in Game 2 and a swing player for the remainder of this series.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I found in the void):
<ul>
<li>As I mentioned, Pritchard is fourth among postseason players in pull-up effective field goal percentage. Jordan Clarkson (60.9%) is first and Chris Paul (60.4%) is second, though both have been eliminated. But third place, at 59.3%, might surprise you: Marcus Smart.</li>
<li>We're in draft season!!! It's one of my favorite times of the year. Let's get excited. Here's an interesting graph of the careers of various draft picks throughout much of NBA history. There's more in the thread:</li>
</ul>
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1/ Since 1978, 2063 players were drafted (*Early draft selected more than 200 players) But, 401 draftee couldn't play a single game in NBA <a href="https://t.co/rXttO2xYRH">pic.twitter.com/rXttO2xYRH</a>
&mdash; TheNext23 (@TNext23) <a href="https://twitter.com/TNext23/status/1526959550624301056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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<ul>
<li>SIS Hoops just keeps on keepin' on with its sweet graphics. This one's interesting because it crosses over several different player archetypes:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What can we learn from identifying who takes open shots most often in this year&rsquo;s playoffs? A combination of secondary creators, play finishers, and star initiators lead the way: <a href="https://t.co/U3LEd0LvKq">pic.twitter.com/U3LEd0LvKq</a>
&mdash; SIS Hoops (@SIS_Hoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIS_Hoops/status/1526986648499912704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Payton Pritchard was a defensive target for the Heat in Game 1, but if the Celtics hope to advance, they need his long-range shooting.

NBA Stats Notebook: The Celtics and the Payton Pritchard conundrum

Over the years, I like to think I&rsquo;ve learned a lot about the game of basketball.&nbsp;
And while I still have a lot to learn, I think I have a pretty solid formula for how one should go about learning about the game of basketball.
It&rsquo;s simple, you watch it (obviously), look through stats, read about it, listen to podcasts about it (like <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dunker-spot/id1547857052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Dunker Spot</a>), and most importantly, you take notes. (It doesn't stop after school!)
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And with that being said, let's sift through some of my game notes from Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals!
Ball-Screen Coverages
As we are all aware by now, the <a href="https://youtu.be/6pwt3k8PzhU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ball-screen</a> has become an essential cog in the machine that is modern-day NBA offenses. So, it would stand to reason that the coverages deployed against this play type are paramount to the structure of today&rsquo;s defenses.&nbsp;
Boston continued riding the wave from Game 7 against Milwaukee, opting to start the series in a drop against Miami. By doing this, the Celtics were also taking a page from their former coach, Doc Rivers.&nbsp;
As Couper Moorhead <a href="https://www.nba.com/heat/news/heat-76ers-make-miss-spoelstra-rivers-butler-harden-embiid">pointed out</a>, the Philadelphia 76ers chose to guard ball-screens 2-on-2 with Embiid in a drop, which, in turn, allowed their ancillary defenders to tighten up on shooters and avoid forfeiting open three-pointers. (The Heat lead the league in percentage on <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/shots-closest-defender/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;CloseDefDistRange=4-6%20Feet%20-%20Open&amp;sort=FG3_PCT&amp;dir=1">open threes</a> in the regular season).&nbsp;
Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro both <a href="https://streamable.com/172a3w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">burned</a> this configuration at times. But for now, I would continue mixing that formation in with switches until the Heat prove they can consistently bury pull-up threes while also fielding a competent defensive lineup.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Miami came out the gates switching screens pretty often, and with little resistance. This led to favorable matchups for the Celtics&rsquo; ball-handlers, who cashed in on these opportunities by way of paint touches and lay-down passes to their newly reincarnated big man, Robert Williams III.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/mfsttw" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In the second half, the Heat continued switching when appropriate, but they also started sending two to the ball more often. And that &mdash; coupled with their tenaciousness and supreme length &mdash; led to a lot more turnovers (16 compared to 7 in the first half).&nbsp;
An interesting wrinkle to this is that Boston did a great job of <a href="https://twitter.com/stevejones20/status/1526737206836183041?s=20&amp;t=KodKp7IPvGdsRt1Ph53OPg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parking good three-pointer shooters</a> one pass away from its ball-handlers (something the Brooklyn Nets struggled doing in their first-round matchup against the Celtics). So, the natural adjustment for Boston to make in Game 2 should be having the blitzed initiator slow down and survey his options to find that open shooter when the help comes to him.
Off-Ball Matchup Hunting
When most of us think about matchup hunting, the image that most likely comes to mind is that of Luka Doncic demanding a ball-screen from a teammate being shadowed by a relatively weak defender. Said defender then switches onto Doncic, and the Slovenian begins to play with his food a bit before swallowing that matchup whole.
The problem with this tactic is, if the defense doesn&rsquo;t immediately concede the switch, you're forced to re-screen until the team finally waves the white flag. This tug of war eats up precious seconds from the shot clock. And eventually, if they can get the shot clock to under 10 seconds, even the most matador-esque defender has a solid chance of inducing a suboptimal shot.
A more natural/cohesive way of exploiting weak points is by setting up these mismatches off-ball.
In this <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1527265386034614272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">linked clip</a>, you see Boston going at Max Strus. To his credit, he&rsquo;s at least a solid defender. He&rsquo;ll serve as their version of a Pat Connaughton &mdash; an occasional victim of the C's attack. Their real target moving forward (the Grayson Allen of this operation) will be Herro.&nbsp;
(*Whispers from the back corner* Notice how Herro was on the bench for the entirety of the Heat&rsquo;s 22-2 run in the third quarter. Coincidence? I think not...)
Boston did some nice things in this department, but the Heat were the true masters of the dark arts in Game 1. Miami spent a bulk of the second half going at the likes of Derrick White and Payton Pritchard by using Butler as a screener whenever one of them was matched up with the ball-handler (particularly when that person was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/appreciating-gabe-vincents-game-one-performance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gabe Vincent</a>).
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/lqy2ag" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Butler used these opportunities to build up steam going downhill (he commandeered an Embiid-ian 18 free throw attempts) or to operate in isolation with an empty corner.&nbsp;
He was magnificent in Game 1, but it's worth pointing out that Pritchard saw 30-plus minutes in this game. With Marcus Smart <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/celtics-injury-updates-marcus-smart-probable-game-2-al-horford-doubtful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed as probable for Game 2</a>, it will be interesting to observe these actions unfold with the Defensive Player of the Year patrolling the battlefield.&nbsp;
Unorthodox Rim Protection
As we mentioned earlier, the Celtics manufactured a ton of dribble penetration in the first half, leading to 42 points in the paint on 21-of-26 shooting.
In the second half, Boston was relegated to 6 points on 3-of-16 shooting from that area of the floor.&nbsp;
What gives?
Well, the Heat aren&rsquo;t blessed with a basketball-swatting machine like Williams IIIl; they finished dead last in the league in blocks per game during the regular season. So to compensate, they turned to less traditional means.&nbsp;
This all started with their decision to send two defenders at the ball, which led to fewer defensive breakdowns in the restricted area. They also <a href="https://streamable.com/e3g4ta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ICE'd</a> a few ball-screens to further enforce that "no middle" philosophy.&nbsp;
Bam Adebayo and <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/04/how-p-j-tucker-is-impacting-the-miami-heat-at-age-36/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PJ Tucker</a> did an admiral job of denying entry passes into the paint, and when those passes did find a way through, the Heat used their length and great hands to swipe at the ball and create turnovers.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
One of the more subtle adjustments in the 2nd half from Miami was the decision to try and preemptively swipe down on the ball rather than contest shots at the rim vertically. If you don't have the firepower to meet them at their apex, you may as well not let them even get there. <a href="https://t.co/55GskSOess">pic.twitter.com/55GskSOess</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1527326345080246273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2022</a></blockquote>

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That was one of the most crucial adjustments the Heat made in the second half. In the first half, Williams III was making a killing because no one on Miami could match his insane verticality. However, great defenders know (or at least figure out quickly) that when you can&rsquo;t challenge a shot straight up, you need to prevent the shot from taking place altogether. And you do this by getting your hands on it while it's still down by the defender&rsquo;s waist. It&rsquo;s safe to say the Heat have a ton of smart defenders.
Oh, and it also helped that Bam decided to <a href="https://streamable.com/zgpu4a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">catapult a few shots into the spacetime continuum</a>.&nbsp;
See, taking notes is important! Look how much you can digest from making notes about things while you watch and read about a game.
Now, get your pen and paper (or reMarkable) out for Game 2 on Thursday.&nbsp;
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Mat Issa shares his observations from Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

NBA Eastern Conference Finals notebook: Heat-Celtics Game 1

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler doesn&rsquo;t like being a called a scorer.
Never mind that the moniker seems appropriate. He&rsquo;s averaging nearly 30 points per game in this postseason, has reached the 40-point mark three times in his last 10 games after having zero such regular season games since 2017, and carried the Miami Heat over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
But say &ldquo;scorer&rdquo; to him, and he will scoff in disdain.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been a quote-unquote scorer at other points in my career, and it didn&rsquo;t work out too well for me,&rdquo; Butler said.
Things have been working out just fine so far in this postseason for Butler and the top-seeded Heat, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-boston-celtics-nba-sports-jimmy-butler-5b5681ec485608add59e6eb15f24ee9f">who&rsquo;ll look to take a 2-0 lead in the East title series</a> when they play host to the second-seeded Celtics again on Thursday night. It won&rsquo;t be easy: The Celtics are 3-0 after losses in these playoffs, winning those bounceback games by an average of 14.7 points and getting two of those victories on the road.
The Celtics are hoping to have defensive player of the year Marcus Smart (mid-foot sprain) back for Game 2, listing him as probable for Thursday night. Boston was also without forward Al Horford (health and safety protocols) for Game 1 &mdash; he is doubtful for Game 2. And coach Ime Udoka was sick Wednesday with a non-COVID illness.
&ldquo;We have a lot of confidence,&rdquo; Celtics center Daniel Theis said Wednesday as his team gathered for a film session.
The Heat have some injury issues as well: Point guard Kyle Lowry will miss his eighth game of the playoffs with a hamstring issue. His replacement, Gabe Vincent &mdash; the Heat are 7-0 in these playoffs when he starts &mdash; is questionable with a hamstring issue of his own, as is fellow starting guard Max Strus.
Game 1 was a 118-107 loss for the Celtics on Tuesday night, though Boston pointed out after the game that the combined scores of the first, second and fourth quarters added up to Celtics 93, Heat 79.
That pesky third quarter, however, counted.
A 39-14 romp by Miami in those 12 minutes &mdash; Butler had 17 points in that quarter alone, outscoring the Celtics by himself &mdash; turned the whole game around, and the Heat never saw their lead trimmed to less than nine in the final quarter.
&ldquo;Expect us to play better,&rdquo; said Boston forward Jayson Tatum, who had six turnovers in that pivotal quarter. &ldquo;Expect myself to play a lot better.&rdquo;
In other words, he&rsquo;s expecting to get to a higher level.
Butler is already there.
He&rsquo;s averaging 29.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.3 steals in these playoffs on 53.5% shooting. Since the NBA began charting each of those statistics, nobody has finished a postseason averaging so much in each category while shooting that well. And Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has a simple reason why Butler is in this space.
&ldquo;Heightened attention to detail,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;But again, I don&rsquo;t want to get in a long dissertation about it. If you&rsquo;re driven by competition, and the stakes get raised, you&rsquo;re going to raise your level of play. It&rsquo;s not about trying to get bigger numbers. It&rsquo;s about doing what&rsquo;s required. And this level is high level, this competition, and he senses it, and he knows it. He feels it.&rdquo;
Butler went 17 for 18 from the foul line in Game 1. The only player to make, or take, more free throws in a game against Boston this season was Kevin Durant &mdash; who was 18 for 20 for Brooklyn in Game 2 of the first-round series between the Celtics and Nets.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s comfortable,&rdquo; Boston&rsquo;s Jaylen Brown said of Butler. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very comfortable right now, and we&rsquo;ve got to do a better job of breaking that rhythm that he&rsquo;s in. That&rsquo;s it. We&rsquo;ve got to take the challenge.&rdquo;
Butler&rsquo;s last 40-point game in the regular season came on Jan. 25, 2017, for Chicago &mdash; three franchises and more than five years ago. But he&rsquo;s had five such games in the playoffs since coming to Miami, the first two coming in the bubble two years ago when he carried the Heat to the NBA Finals. The other three have been in the last month, when he&rsquo;s carrying the Heat again, despite his insistence that he&rsquo;s not carrying anyone.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if it&rsquo;s a big stage or a little stage or who is watching,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;I do what I do for my family, for my people, for my organization and for my teammates. That&rsquo;s it. Doesn&rsquo;t matter if it&rsquo;s a big stage, home or away. I know why I do what I do.&rdquo;

Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat look to take a 2-0 lead over Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.