The Boston Celtics were up by seven points on the Miami Heat in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at home. It looked like they would tie their NBA playoff series at 1-1.
However, Jimmy Butler went on a tear after getting into a little spat with Grant Williams, and the Heat won by a final score of 111-105 to take a 2-0 lead.
“At the end of the day, we have a real, real decision to make,” Williams said. “And that decision is going to be, are we going to come back and really set the tone for the rest of this year and really make a statement, or are we going to come out and lay down? And I don’t think this team is built for laying down.”
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The Heat won Games 1 and 2 in Boston. Games 3 and 4 are in Miami, where the Heat are undefeated in the playoffs.
“We just got to stay poised,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said. “I think we get sped up at times. Two, we just play basketball. In those moments we got to come alive. It seems like we let the game slip away from us when we are in those situations.”
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If the Celtics lose Game 3, the series will likely be over since no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the playoffs.
“We got to execute better,” Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum said. “We have had double-digit leads in both games and a turnover has changed the momentum or offensive rebounds led to a 3 has changed the momentum. So those plays right when we’re up 12, when we could go up 15, 16 … they go on an 8-0 run and now it’s at four, and now the momentum has shifted.
“So we’ve been up and we got to do a better job of making those, I would call them winning plays, in those situations.”
The Celtics are 4-2 on the road in the playoffs. Game 3 is the biggest game of the season for the Celtics, so it will be fascinating to see how the team plays.
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