MIAMI — More than an hour after the ultimate buzzer sounded, after the Celtics’ season was saved beneath unbelievable, unfathomable circumstances, Jayson Tatum sat up on a podium and buried his face in his arms.
He nonetheless couldn’t consider what had simply occurred, what he had simply witnessed.
“Ooh-whee. Oh, my God,” he mentioned. “That was unbelievable. …
“I’m still like in disbelief. That s— was crazy.”
The Celtics’ season regarded abruptly misplaced within the last seconds of Game 6 on Saturday evening in Miami. They wanted a miracle after that they had simply blown yet one more double-digit lead within the fourth quarter, after Jimmy Butler rose from the lifeless to place his Heat in entrance and on the cusp of the NBA Finals, after a wild sequence.
But these Celtics thrive after they’re counted out.
With three seconds on the clock, the Celtics trailing by one, Derrick White inbounded the ball to Marcus Smart, who heaved a last-second 3-pointer. It rattled out and in. But White didn’t hand over on the play, he didn’t stop on the season. No one on the Heat put a physique on him. He crashed the glass. The ball fell proper to him. He tipped the ball in, barely beating the horn. He despatched the Celtics to an unbelievable, epic 105-104 victory, in one of the unbelievable endings on this storied workforce’s historical past.
“I’ve never been a part of a game like this,” Al Horford mentioned.
“To be that poised and finish like that,” Horford mentioned, “that’s legendary.”
The Celtics are nonetheless alive after a miracle in Miami.
“It all happened so fast,” Jaylen Brown mentioned. “I know Smart shot it, and I thought it was good. Then Derrick White, like a flash of lightning, just came out of nowhere and saved the day, man. It was just an incredible play.”
The play was much more legendary given the circumstances, given the historical past at stake. The Celtics have been left for lifeless, trying hopeless as they walked off this court docket lower than every week in the past, humiliated after a Game 3 loss put them in an 0-3 collection gap in these Eastern Conference Finals, a deficit that has by no means been overcome. But they’ve reeled off three consecutive wins. They grew to become the fourth workforce to ever power a Game 7 beneath these circumstances.
Game 7 – an unthinkable chance final weekend – is Monday evening in Boston, and if the Celtics can end this comeback after which go on to win a championship, White’s season-saving play shall be remembered in franchise lore.
“I was just happy,” mentioned a humble White, who was emotional within the moments after the play. “Season was on the line. We don’t want to go home, and so I was just happy we got the win.”
The Celtics have been in management, within the lead for many of Saturday evening regardless of their worst 3-point taking pictures efficiency of the season. They made simply seven of 35 makes an attempt from deep, however due to their rediscovered defensive identification over these final three video games, they stayed in entrance.
But they know the Heat are tough to shut out. They discovered that the exhausting approach in Games 1 and a pair of. Then once more in Game 6. The Celtics led by 9 with 3:04 to play earlier than Butler got here alive. The Heat star shrugged off a woeful 2-for-17 begin from the sector and willed Miami again.
Butler made a 3-pointer with 2:04 left. Four-point sport.
Butler was fouled with 1:31 remaining. He made the primary. Three-point sport. Then he missed the second. Caleb Martin corralled the rebound and located Duncan Robinson huge open for 3. But it in some way missed. The Heat weren’t accomplished although.
Butler transformed a three-point play with 53 seconds to go. One-point sport.
The C’s have been teetering on the worst doable second. Tatum, who was good within the first half, struggled to discover a shot within the second half and was blocked twice on one play. Bam Adebayo acquired the ball, He discovered Robinson in transition, and he took an early huge open triple. But he missed once more.
The Celtics weren’t fairly out of the woods. After all of the insanity, they led by two within the last seconds earlier than they skilled a disastrous sequence. Butler was fouled by Horford on what, at first look, regarded like a two-pointer. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla challenged the decision, hoping to overturn the foul. But the decision was upheld, and after the assessment, Butler’s shot try was dominated to be a 3-pointer.
The play would have been reviewed on whether or not it was a 2 or 3 regardless if Mazzulla had challenged. Regardless, it gave Butler three photographs to take the lead, and he calmly sank all of them.
The C’s have been abruptly on the verge of devastating elimination.
“In all honesty, at that point, I’m in full prayer mode,” Brown mentioned. “Whatever prayer I got, whatever dua I got, reciting it over and over in my head.”
Mazzulla known as a timeout to attract up a play. It would have been pure for the Celtics to be deflated after that sequence. But within the huddle, they weren’t panicked. They have been locked in on a chance to win.
“I didn’t have time to think like oh, s— the season might be over,” Tatum mentioned. “It was like no, we’ve got three seconds left, we try and make a play. Whatever happened just happened.
Nobody was sitting there pouting like oh, we blew it. No, we’ve got three seconds left. Joe drew up a play. We tried to execute it to the best of our ability and try to make something happen. “That never crossed my mind while I was sitting there. I was just trying to see what we were running.”
Almost satirically, Mazzulla’s failed problem truly aided the ultimate play. When Butler was fouled by Horford, there have been 2.1 seconds left on the clock. But after the assessment, it was modified to three.0 seconds. The clock was solely reviewed as a result of Mazzulla challenged the play.
That additional time was in the end essential for the Celtics, giving White the time he wanted to sneak to the basket for the game-winning tip-in.
For just a few moments, there was uncertainty if the basket counted. But after the play was proven on the video board on the enviornment, it was clear White launched the ball with one-tenth of a second on the clock. The Celtics erupted in celebration on the court docket. Robert Williams grabbed White, then the remainder of his teammates adopted to mob their hero.
It was the stuff of legends.
“This is how special teams, championship teams … throughout runs, you’re going to go through a situation like this,” Horford mentioned. “This was big for us.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com