Boston, too, admits: Miami "came up like a wounded animal," why are we not?
The stars fell one after the other, and in the end Miami managed to scrape a hard win and go up to 2: 2 thanks to the character, determination and "big heart" of a special bunch.
Adbaio, Laurie and Tucker explain the "secret"
Walla!
sport
22/05/2022
Sunday, 22 May 2022, 09:46 Updated: 09:50
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We ticked off: Today's summary clip, 22.5 (Sports 1)
At some point it was clear that one of the teams would have to simply "scratch" the win and pull it out by force, only it was not clear if it was Miami or Boston.
The two teams looked tired and vulnerable in the meeting between them tonight (Saturday and Sunday), but in the end it was Miami that managed to beat the Celtics 103: 109 and climb to a 1: 2 advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals series, much thanks to Am Adbaio, who finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds And filled the void left after Jimmy Butler's injury.
Adbaio also added 6 assists and 4 of Miami's 19 steals (a club record in the playoffs).
"He just did his version of what Jimmy does - 'Do what it takes to win,'" Miami coach Eric Spolstra complimented the outstanding forward, "Tonight we needed the points, and the early offensive hit. The second, if he stabilized us, in the second half the game got a little dangerous, and it happened,
More on Walla!
Adbayo's double double swept Miami to 103: 109 in Boston
To the full article
Miami started overwhelmingly, and in the first half already led 37:62.
Halfway through the hit they announced that Jimmy Butler, their undisputed star in the playoffs, was suffering from knee pain and would not return.
The Celtics managed to shrink to 93:92 with 2:40 left to go, but a 3-pointer by Max Strauss and an excellent move by Adbayo gave Miami a 6-point lead back, closing the story.
"In the previous game, as everyone saw, they beat us like we stole something," Adbaio said, "it was supposed to wake us all up. To lose like that at home? That means everything. So that loss ignited a fire in all of us."
It was a game with too many injuries, and Butler was not alone.
Marcus Smart, the defensive player of the year, fell a moment after a collision with Kyle Laurie, writhed in pain on the parquet and went down to the locker room with the help of his teammates, but returned to the pitches after five minutes.
Jason Taitum also appeared to be in pain a few minutes later and went down to the locker room, but he too returned.
"My neck got stuck badly," Taitum said, "I felt pain, but slowly it came loose and I came back."
Tonight Butler joins Laurie who has missed 8 of Miami's last 10 games, and PJ Tucker who has been in pain and looks limited.
The Celtics were also without Robert Williams, who had already missed 3 games against Milwaukee.
"I have no updates," Spolstra said at the end, "we will just go back to our cave and recover there, maybe I will have new information later."
Incidentally, the assessment is that Butler's injury is "not serious", and he will return for the next game.
Miami Heat actor, Kyle Laurie, celebrates (Photo: GettyImages, Elsa)
Bam Adbaio, Miami Heat (Photo: GettyImages, Elsa)
But even without Butler, Miami just did what it took.
"There's something in this team, we have the players who work hard," Laurie said. "Udonis Islam always says of us that all the players here are due to hard work, all of us. "We all found a way to give work at the highest level to get here, and stay. It's great for us."
And who was it that gave the important three-pointer of the game?
Max Strauss, who came from the Development League.
"At the time-out Kyle says 'let's arrange an exercise for Max,' let's leave it open," Strauss said, "so when he said that, I got all the confidence in the world to come up and just score that shot."
Al Horford also knows how to compliment Miami.
"They came up today like a wounded animal," said one of the Boston stars, "they came up to fight. And for whatever reason, we did not have the same level of determination."
Laurie concludes: "No matter what happens, you know that if you go on the field and put all your heart and play hard, in the end you have to be happy and whole with yourself and just live with the result. And that's exactly what we did."
PJ Tucker knows that Miami just appreciates the moment, and tries to take full advantage of it.
"You never know when you'll have a chance to go back to that status," said the injured forward, "I told friends I do not know exactly what I have, but I will give my all. That is our culture here."
sport
NBA
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Miami Heat
Boston Celtics