BBNBA: Bam Adebayo, Heat one win away from NBA Finals return
The Miami Heat have stolen the Boston Celtics will to live.
Holding a 2-0 series lead heading into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday night, the Heat returned home with a chance to put their foot on the necks of the clearly-intimated Celtics. It’s been an unexpected series thus far, with the eight-seeded Heat looking to become just the second bottom seed to ever make the NBA Finals. Doing so against the two-seeded Celtics, which made it to Game 6 of the Finals a season ago after beating Miami in the ECF, is nothing short of unprecedented.
After two competitive matchups in Boston that went the Heat’s way, Game 3 was symbolic of just how dead in the water the Celtics truly are. Miami led by 15 at the halftime break then blew the doors wide open with a 15-point third-quarter advantage. The Heat held a 30-point lead multiple times in the second half, allowing head coach Erik Spoelstra to pull his starters for all of the fourth quarter. It was a straight-up beatdown by Miami, which saw six different players finish in double-digit scoring.
In terms of pure numbers, Bam Adebayo didn’t have a huge night, but his two highlight dunks were more than enough to make up for it. The first was a sweet spin-dunk that made Jaylen Brown fall to the floor and the second was an alley-oop slam over former Tennessee Volunteer, Grant Williams. The former Kentucky big man finished with 13 points (4-5 shooting), three rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block, playing just 25 minutes before hitting the bench with the win no longer in doubt.
As a team, the Heat shot 56.8 percent (46-81) from the field and 54.3 percent (19-35) from long range. In the end, Miami took a 3-0 series lead with a dominating 128-102 victory. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 hole in NBA Playoffs history to win the series. Gabe Vincent — not Jimmy Butler — led the way for the Heat with a career-high 29 points on 11-14 shooting. Caleb Martin added 18 points while Duncan Robinson chipped in 22 points. Those two combined to shoot 9-14 from distance.
“The rim was as big as the ocean for everybody,” Adebayo said postgame.
Game 4 will remain in South Beach as the Heat look to close out the series and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since the 2020 Bubble. Tipoff is set for Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. EST on TNT.
As a side note, injured Heat guard Tyler Herro appears to be on pace for a return with his recovery from surgery that was required after he broke his hand. The one-time ‘Cat suffered the injury on April 16 and was given a timetable of 4-6 weeks for his recovery. TNT sideline reporter Allie LaForce said on Sunday night’s broadcast that Herro’s brace was removed ahead of Game 3. He could be cleared to start shooting again in the near future, which would improve his odds of playing in the NBA Finals if Miami can finish off the Celtics.
“That’s the hope. Get to the Finals, and I can get back for that,” Herro said, according to Svetozar Pavlović.
5/21/23 statistics
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | +/- | MIN |
| Bam Adebayo (MIA) | 128-102 W vs. BOS | 13 | 4-5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 30 | 25 |
| Tyler Herro (MIA) | 128-102 W vs. BOS | DNP-Hand | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Tonight in the NBA
Western Conference Finals
8:30 (ESPN): No. 1 Nuggets (Murray) @ No. 7 Lakers (Davis, Gabriel, Vanderbilt) | DEN leads 3-0
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard