The Boston Celtics demolished the Miami Heat 118-84 on Wednesday to seal a 4-1 series victory and advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs. The postseason’s top seeds, who were defeated by Miami in last year’s Eastern Conference finals, avenged that setback in a dramatic way with a one-sided wire-to-wire sweep at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each scored 25 points to lead Boston, which scarcely missed Kristaps Porzingis’ injury. The Celtics put down the gauntlet in the first quarter, scoring 41 points to build a commanding 18-point lead. They increased their lead to 22 points by halftime and kept up the pressure in the third quarter, leading 98-66 heading into the fourth.
Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla could afford to rest his frontline players for the fourth game after effectively defeating an injury-plagued Miami club missing Jimmy Butler and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Mazzulla stated that the Celtics had not been thinking about last year’s playoff loss to Miami.
I don’t really worry about what happened last year, Mazzulla said. At the end of the day, I liked how we approached the series, regardless of who they were playing. It had an intentionality to it, had attention to detail, and had a consistent physicality. And that’s the most important thing, regardless of who we’re playing. We wake up tomorrow and we’ve got to do it all over again versus another team, he added.
Boston will now face either the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers or the fifth-seeded Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Cleveland leads the series 3–2. The Celtics are full of confidence after defeating eighth-seeded Miami in five games. White scored 25 points, including five three-pointers, while Jayson Tatum had 16 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists. Sam Hauser contributed 17 points off the bench, and Jrue Holiday scored 10 points.
In Wednesday’s other playoff game, Luka Doncic scored 35 points as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 123-93 on the road to take a 3-2 series lead. The Clippers suffered their biggest NBA playoff loss ever, by 30 points. Doncic finished with 35 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds, with Maxi Kleber adding 15 off the bench. Kyrie Irving had a quiet night, scoring 14 points. In the playoffs, it doesn’t matter if you win by one point or 50 points, it’s still a fantastic win, Doncic said after securing a comfortable win.
