Celtics extinguish Heat, advance to semis
BOSTON—The Celtics crushed the Miami Heat, 118-84, to complete an emphatic 4-1 series victory on Wednesday and book their place in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
The postseason top seeds—upset by Miami in last year’s Eastern Conference finals—avenged that loss in spectacular fashion with a one-sided wire-to-wire rout at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White scored 25 points apiece to lead Boston, which barely noticed the absence of the injured Kristaps Porzingis, as the Celtics threw down the gauntlet in the first quarter by racking up a whopping 41 points to open up a commanding 18-point advantage.
They extended that lead to 22 points by halftime, and kept up the pressure in the third quarter to lead, 98-66, heading into the final frame.
Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla could afford to rest his front-line players for the fourth with the game effectively won against an injury-hit Miami team missing Jimmy Butler and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Mazzulla said the Celtics weren’t thinking of last year’s series loss to Miami in this season’s playoff showdown.
“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,” he added. “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.”
Boston will now face either the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers or fifth seeds Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Cleveland leads that series 3-2.
In Los Angeles, the Dallas Mavericks drew 35 points from Luka Doncic in a 121-93 win over the Clippers for a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference series.
Still playing with a hurting right knee, Doncic scored 20 of his total in the second half where the Mavs broke away. He also finished with 10 assists and seven rebounds.
