New Big 3? Jimmy, Bam and Goran lead 17-point comeback to take 2-0 series lead on Celtics
The Miami Heat had roared all the way back from a 17-point first-half deficit to lead for most of the fourth quarter, yet there the Heat was again, trailing the Boston Celtics by five points with less than five minutes to go in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Bam Adebayo, the hero from Game 1 with the already-legendary block, had carried Miami back in the third quarter, and now it was Goran Dragic’s turn with some help from Jimmy Butler. The two guards, one a current All-Star and one former, combined to score or assist on the Heat’s last 16 points. They closed out Miami’s 106-101 win against the Celtics in Lake Buena Vista.
“He’s a winner, man. That’s my guy,” said Butler, an All-Star this season for the Heat. “Zoki and Goki — that’s me and him. That’s our nickname together. I’m glad he’s on my team.”
The win gives the Heat a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Conference Finals at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Miami is now just two wins away from going to the NBA Finals for the first time since the Big 3 era and the Heat’s unlikely new Big 3 carried it there Thursday.
Adebayo scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the third to fuel Miami’s comeback with a 37-17 period, turning a 60-47 halftime deficit into an 84-77 lead. After Boston rallied back in the fourth quarter to take a 94-89 lead with 4:25 left, Butler and Dragic took over.
Butler, in his first season with the Heat, finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Dragic, a 34-year-old former All-Star relegated to a bench role this season as he recovered from an ankle injury, scored a game-high 25 and dished out five assists. Adebayo, who was an All-Star for the first time this season, added 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block.
Adebayo wasn’t a top-10 pick in his NBA draft. Butler was barely a first-round pick in his and Dragic went in the second. Right now, they have the Heat on the cusp of the Finals for the first time since 2014.
“We all trust each other,” Adebayo said. “I was having a rough first half and I’m in my head, I’m thinking about other things and, you know, my teammates kept talking to me, so you’ve just got to have trust.”
The game-ending 17-6 run began with Miami doing what it did throughout the third quarter: It put Adebayo into a pick-and-roll situation. All seven of the All-Star post player’s field goals in the third were off assists, four were dunks and three were alley oops, mostly from Dragic and rookie wing Tyler Herro.
In the final five minutes, the Heat made Butler the ballhandler and the All-Star wing found Adebayo in the post for a hook shot to cut the Celtics’ lead to 94-91.
Then Butler jumped a passing lane for a steal, a save behind his back and eventually a wide-open dunk off a pass by sharpshooting swingman Duncan Robinson. Boston wing Jaylen Brown went 1 of 2 at the free-throw line on the next possession and Butler tied the game again at 95-95 with a driving layup.
Dragic made two free throws on the next possession and the Heat never trailed again. The guard followed with a 27-foot stepback three and then Butler intercepted another pass to set up forward Jae Crowder for an easy layup to push the lead back out to 100-95. Dragic hit another stepback on the next possession, and Butler iced the win by hitting a pair of free throws in the waning seconds, then grabbing one final steal.
Five of the Heat’s last wins in these NBA playoffs have come after Miami trailed by double digits.
“I don’t know if you can point to see if there’s a trend. Each game is different in the playoffs,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The guys have grit, but you also have to do things, you know, well.”
Miami’s second-half turnaround began with defense.
The Celtics shot 58.1 percent from the field in the first half, while the Heat shot 38.3 percent, leaving Miami in a 60-47 halftime hole as Boston outscored the Heat, 32-18, in the paint. In the second half, Miami held the Celtics to 37.9-percent shooting and shot 51.2 percent itself.
Boston ran away from the Heat in the second quarter, outscoring the Miami , 29-19, in the period after a red-hot start from Robinson kept the Heat afloat in the first.
The sharpshooting swingman opened the game 3 of 3 from three-point range to help the Heat jump out to a 14-11 lead and he added another three later in the quarter to put Miami ahead 24-23. After Herro hit a pair of free throws, All-Star forward Jayson Tatum scored four straight for the Celtics to give Boston a 27-26 lead.
Walker, though, was different from Game 1 for the Celtics. The All-Star point guard shot just 6 of 19 in Boston’s overtime loss Tuesday, going 1 of 9 from beyond the arc. It took 16 seconds for Walker to match his three-point total Thursday.
The Celtics got Adebayo switched on to Walker on the game’s opening possession and the guard hit a pull up three in Adebayo’s face to open the game. Walker hit another three, and added an assist and a steal in the first quarter, then he poured in eight points, grabbed four rebounds and dished another assist in the second.
Walker always figured to be a major challenge for the Heat’s young, offensive-minded guards and he picked Miami apart with his shiftiness in the first half.
In the second, the Heat finally stifled him. Walker went just 3 of 9 from the field in the final 24 minutes as Miami mixed zone defenses with switch-heavy man-to-man and pulled off another stunning comeback to improve to 10-1 in the 2020 NBA playoffs.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 9:43 PM.
