There will be no sweep at South Beach.
The Boston Celtics rode hot shooting from long distance and a scorching third quarter to a 116-99 win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday. The win fends off a sweep by the Heat and forces Game 5 on Thursday in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Heat entered Tuesday’s game with a chance to close out a 4-0 series win at home. They got off to a good start with 18-5 and 20-11 first-half runs to take a 56-50 edge into halftime. But Boston asserted its will after the break.
Trailing 61-52 in the third, the Celtics took control of the game with a 19-0 run in a span of 3:04. They ended the run with a 70-62 lead that they would not relinquish. After struggling to connect from deep all series, the Celtics found their stride in the third while connecting on 7 of 12 3-point attempts and outscoring the Heat, 38-23.
They kept the pressure on through the fourth to stamp out any semblance of a Heat rally. While they shot well from distance, they also found the elite defense that was their trademark during the regular season and had eluded them through the first three games of the series. They fueled their second-half rally with points off turnovers while limiting Miami from long distance.
By the time it was done, Boston shot 51.2% from the field and 19 of 45 (42.2%) from long distance. They entered game 4 having connected on 31 of 106 (29.2%) 3-pointers in the first three games of the series. This was a team that was the NBA’s sixth-best (37.7%) 3-point shooting team during the regular season.
Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with 34 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. He scored 14 of his 34 in the third quarter and 26 total after halftime. He connected on 5 of 9 shots from beyond the arc.