Rob Issa, FISM News

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The Boston Celtics saved their season.

Jayson Tatum scored 33 points, Jaylen Brown added 17 and the Celtics beat the Miami Heat 116-99 in Game 4 on Tuesday night to avoid being swept in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Celtics are trying to become the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series. Previous teams are 0-150, including the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost to the Denver Nuggets in the West finals.

Boston got the first win out of the way thanks to a stellar second half. The Celtics trailed by nine points at one point early in the third quarter before going on an 18-0 run.

Tatum scored nine of the 18 points and the Celtics were 6 of 7 from the floor during the run, including making all four 3-pointers.

“Tonight we played with pace, purpose,” Tatum said. “We were getting stops. We were getting out in transition. You see layups and free throws go in, the jump shots start to feel a lot easier.”

Tatum made 5 of 9 from 3-point range, setting a team record by passing Paul Pierce for the most 3-pointers in Celtics playoff history with 223. He finished with 11 rebounds and seven assists for his 16th career playoff game with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, surpassing John Havlicek for the second-most such games in Boston’s playoff history behind only Larry Bird.

“We were just trying to save our season,” Tatum said.

After not scoring a field goal in the fourth quarter in the first three games, Tatum had 11 points in the last 12 minutes.

Derrick White added 16 points, Grant Williams had 14, Al Horford added 12, and Marcus Smart scored 11 for the Celtics. Game 5 is Thursday night in Boston.

We can’t relax,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We have to keep the same level of intensity, the same mindset, the same focus in the next game.”

Jimmy Butler led Miami with 29 points, Gabe Vincent had 17 and Caleb Martin added 16. The Heat are looking to become the second No. 8 seed to make the NBA Finals.

“We always say the last one to get is the hardest one to get,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “I knew they would be desperate.”

The No. 2 seed Celtics won three games in Miami in the East finals last year. They’ll only have to win two this time because two of the next three games are in Boston if the series goes the distance.

“We don’t really have a choice,” Mazzulla said. “It’s do-or-die. Got to stick together.”

The Celtics have done that so far.

“Just coming together, talking it out, and like a lot of times when you get to this point down 3-0, you see locker rooms and teams start to go in the other direction,” Brown said. “We want to make sure that we stayed together. We wanted to make sure that we looked each other in the eye and came out today and put our best foot forward, and I’m proud of our group for doing that because you see teams with their back against the wall and you see they just collapse. You didn’t see that tonight. You seen us come together, play defense, make the right plays, and I feel like that shows a lot about our character, especially in a game where everything is on the line and everything has went wrong in the last couple of games.”

Meanwhile, the Nuggets are resting and waiting for an opponent. Game 1 of the NBA Finals is June 1.

“I speak for 17 players in that locker room and the entire organization: We are not satisfied,” Denver coach Michael Malone said after the Nuggets swept the Lakers.