Rob Issa, FISM News
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Playoff Jimmy is now a problem for the Boston Celtics.
Jimmy Butler scored 35 points, leading the Miami Heat to a 123-116 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.
Butler had 20 points in the second half as Miami rallied from a double-digit deficit and scored a franchise playoff-record 46 points in the third quarter. Butler is averaging 31.5 points in 11 playoff games while leading the No. 8 seed Heat to the third round.
He added seven assists, six steals, and five rebounds.
“I’m playing at an incredible level because they are allowing me to do so,” Butler said of his teammates. “They are not putting a limit on my game. They are trusting me with the ball, on the defensive end. I think that’s what any basketball player wants.”
Bam Adebayo added 20 points and Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, and Kyle Lowry each had 15 for the Heat.
“One of the premier two-way basketball players of this association. … That’s what we needed.” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler. “Down the stretch, Jimmy was able to do everything we needed – as a scorer and as a facilitator.”
The Heat have won the series opener on the road in each of their three series while the Celtics have now lost Game 1 at home three times this postseason. Game 2 is Friday in Boston.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 30 points, but he didn’t take a shot in the fourth quarter after scoring 25 points in the final quarter of victories against Philadelphia in Games 6 and 7.
Jaylen Brown scored 22 points and Malcolm Brogdon added 19 points for the Celtics, who fell to 4-4 at the Boston Garden during this postseason.
“I don’t know. I don’t know why,” Tatum said. “You’ve still got to play the game. You’ve still got to make plays, regardless of whether you’re at home or away. The court is the same: There’s one ball, three refs, and two baskets. I don’t have an exact answer why we’re .500 at home. But we’ve got to be better.”
Boston took a 64-52 lead with 1:34 left in the second quarter after Tatum scored on a driving layup and again led by 12 after Marcus Smart hit a 3-pointer one minute into the third quarter.
But the Heat outscored the Celtics 44-20 the rest of the quarter to take a 12-point lead into the fourth.
“We lost our offensive purpose,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I don’t know. It’s a great question. That’s what we have to figure out, but it came from our attention to detail. But we were prepared for the game. We were prepared for them and our guys came out and played. And then we have to be better than the third quarter.”
This series marks the third time in four years the two teams have met in the East finals. Each squad won once with Boston advancing last year in seven games.
The Celtics finished with 13 more wins than Miami in the regular season and earned the No. 2 seed. The Heat squeezed into the playoffs with a win-or-go-home victory in the play-in tournament but knocked off No. 1 seed Milwaukee in five games and the No. 5 seed Knicks in six games.
“We are just playing really good basketball,” Butler said. “More than anything, we are staying together through the good and through the bad.”
The Heat became the fifth team to win a road game to start their first three playoff series, joining the 2021 Atlanta Hawks, 1999 Knicks, 1989 Chicago Bulls, and 1981 Houston Rockets. Miami aims to become the first No. 8 seed to reach the NBA Finals in a full season. the Knicks did it in the lockout-shortened 1999 season.