BOSTON — Derrick White dribbled the ball up the floor, sized up Bam Adebayo, used Luke Kornet to screen him onto Nikola Jovic and stepped into a three. His fifth make of the night in 10 tries.
“Each game is different,” White said this morning. “I doubt I’ll take, what, 26 shots again?
He nearly reached that mark again two days later in a runaway 118-84 win that secured the series, 4-1, over the Miami Heat. Finally drawing even following their fourth series in five years, and moving onto the second round without incident despite Kristaps Porziņģis going down in Game 4. Life without him began smoothly on offense, Boston shooting 58.6% from the field, 40.6% from three and generating 25 free throws through three quarters while going ahead by as many as 37 points. White led the Celtics again with 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
White carried over his Game 4 onslaught to Boston with a corner three on the third Celtics possession before he beat Delon Wright, the spot starter in place of Jaime Jaquez, downhill with some early offense. White and Brown beat Miami’s defense into the half court on back-to-back plays before a three pass possession set White up for a driving dunk. He shrugged, stepping backward past the bench before pausing as the Heat called timeout after his seven points in five minutes. Al Horford and White hit back-to-back threes after to build an early nine point lead.
“We got off to a really good start playing with pace (in Game 4),” Joe Mazzulla said pre-game. “We just gotta use the speed to our advantage on both ends of the floor. I think that’s the most important thing, but it starts with our defense. Gotta get stops, then you don’t have to play in the half court.”
That ballooned to 24 only 15 minutes into the night, Boston unloading on Tyler Herro, Kevin Love and other Heat wings to spark a 11-0 run that became 26-9 between quarters. Jayson Tatum got rolling with back-to-back threes over Love while White became the first Celtic in at least 25 years to score 15 points in back-to-back first quarters. An 18-point Boston lead mounted to 30 into the second quarter behind Brown and Jrue Holiday threes, the Celtics starting 10-for-17 from deep. The Heat immediately answered 16-5 to make it a 19-point game, broken up by White’s cutting layup and Horford grabbing consecutive offensive rebounds, turning and pumping up the crowd.
Tatum scored four straight attacking inside to maintain much of the lead into halftime, 68-46, but the offense missed four straight threes. Brown, who fell to 39% from the free throw line in the series with three first half misses, redeemed himself to begin the second half before a touch pass from Holiday to White set the latter up for a 4-for-7 start from deep, Back on the board with their 11th three, the Celtics led by 30 again. Adebayo, who scored 21 points in the first half on 9-for-17 shooting in the first half, missed 8-of-9 in the third.
Luke Kornet provided strong reserve minutes in the drop. He posted two points, seven rebounds and a pair of assists in his first significant run of the series. Horford, in his spot start, posted eight points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal. Tatum took a seat minutes into the fourth quarter with only nine shots, but grabbed 12 rebounds with three assists while the Celtics outscored Miami by 35 points during his minutes. The Heat finished 40% from the field and 11% from three, capsizing offensively throughout a third straight loss that ended their season. Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (neck) never played while Duncan Robinson (back) barely could.
Boston moves onto the second round, facing the winner of Magic-Cavaliers on either Sunday if Cleveland finishes the series in six, or Tuesday if that series goes seven. Their Game 6 takes place on Friday.
