MIAMI – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Miami Heat will try to continue their winning ways at home and push the Boston Celtics to the brink of elimination today when their Eastern Conference finals series shifts to Florida.
The eighth-seeded Heat have won all five of their home games in the playoffs thus far. They also have backed the second-seeded Celtics into a corner by winning the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Boston.
Jimmy Butler collected 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists in Miami’s 111-105 victory over Boston on Friday, while center Bam Adebayo contributed 22, 17 and nine, respectively.
“Jimmy and Bam just really anchored us offensively,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s great when your two best players can lead you, in a place where the ball can go and everybody else is just playing off of those guys.
“Both of them at some point basically guarded everybody on the floor, basically at some point with the switches. They are going to burn a lot of calories on that end, but they have to shoulder massive responsibilities for us on the other end.”