Second-seeded Boston earned its first win after three straight losses with a 116-99 road victory over eighth-seeded Miami in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2022-2023 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs (PO-7 best-of-four) on Thursday at the Casilla Center. Game 5 between the two teams will be played on Nov. 26 at Boston’s home TD Garden.
Boston was led by ace Jayson Tatum, who posted a triple-double of 33 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while six other players scored in double figures, including veteran center Al Horford (12 points, 7 rebounds), Jaylen Brown (17 points), 먹튀검증 Grant Williams (14 points, 6 rebounds), Derrick White (12 points, 7 assists) and Marcus Smart (11 points, 6 assists). They shot a particularly strong 40% (18-of-45 attempts) from three-point range to overwhelm a shooting-challenged Miami (25% from three).
After going into halftime down 50-56, Boston rallied behind Tatum, who scored 14 points in the third quarter alone. The Celtics shot 60.9% (14-of-23) from the field, including two 3-pointers apiece from Tatum, Smart, and Williams in the third quarter alone, and wore down the Miami defense. After tying the game at 52-61 with a trio of 3-pointers, Brown and Tatum took the lead on a pair of drives to the basket.
At 88-83 in the fourth quarter, they scored 12 straight points, including three-pointers from Tatum and Smart, to put Miami out of reach. From there, the lead was consistently 10 points or more and the game was easily won.
Miami battled back behind Jimmy Butler (29 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) and Gabe Vincent (17 points), but couldn’t stop a Boston offense that was in peak shooting form.