Jayson Tatum Becomes Superstar, Helps Celtics Survive Heat

John Fanta

College basketball announcer and reporter

The Celtics are still alive.

With a six-point lead after halftime, Boston overcame the Miami Heat 38-23 in the third round on its way to a 116-99 win to force Game 5 at Boston on Thursday in the final. Eastern Conference, overcame the Heat’s series to lead 3-1.

The turning point came in the third round, when the Heat took a 61-52 lead with less than 10 minutes left.

Boston went on to take an 18-0 lead behind Jayson Tatum, who caused the surge with 3 seconds of back-to-back before Derrick White finished the game with the trio.

While the Heat had four minutes in the two remaining in the third inning, Tatum knocked out return shots and gave Boston an 88-79 lead after three quarters.

Just as the Heat began to find momentum, reducing their lead in Boston to five, the Celtics took 12 unanswered points to find the gap they needed to close their first win. in the series.

Tatum played brilliantly, scoring 34 points (26 in the second half), 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

The loss was only the fourth for the Heat after this season, as Miami dropped 11-4 in the knockout stages.

Statistics to know: The Celtics had their best performance of the series away from downtown, scoring 19 goals 3 (19 to 46).

How to play the game:

Next for the Celtics: Boston had some momentum and got through the hardest step of just looking for a win. Now, the Celtics can bring the series back to TD Garden, where they’ll have a rabid home audience behind on Thursday night. The key to starting Game 6: getting ahead of Tatum and continuing to win the revenue war. Boston forced 15 giveaways in Miami and committed only 10 times in Game 5.

Next for Heat: Miami doesn’t want to let this get any more interesting, but the Heat’s key is to limit sloppy mistakes and get back to the defensive roots of a 3-0 lead. Another key? Take Kyle Lowry away. He was quiet on Tuesday night with just 5 points from 2/8 shots from the field.

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to being a main presenter on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.

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