What a battle this duel between Heat and Celtics!

Difficult to know who will emerge victorious, the Floridians now leading 2 to 1 with the advantage of the floor again, but the intensity is such that the organizations are not spared.

Round trips to the locker room were not lacking in this meeting.

From Kyle Lowry, struggling with a hamstring, to Jayson Tatum, victim of a right shoulder impact, to Marcus Smart who screamed when his right ankle bent inside under the weight of Lowry , but gritted his teeth to get back into play.

Jimmy Butler (8 pts), plagued by recurrent knee inflammation, was unable to play in the second period.

Without its leader, who is also its best scorer, Miami suffered enormously in the second half, but nevertheless managed to go the distance, after a thunderous start to the match, which saw it win the first quarter (39-18 ).

Florida's lead peaked at 26 units in the second and Bam Adebayo had a lot to do with it by scoring 16 of his 31 points (15/22 on shots, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 interceptions, 1 against).

"I took it upon myself"

"During the first two matches, my team depended on me and I did not show myself. I took it upon myself to get the victory", commented the pivot, more involved in this meeting, after being under -used.

"He did what Jimmy knows how to do in his own way, to allow us to win. And it didn't come down to scoring, he did a lot of things to keep us well organized, to make the game easier, everything defending as he knows how to do against a team that offers a big challenge", paid tribute to him Erik Spoelstra, who found the right fit.

Bam Adebayo (#13) of the Miami Heat, facing Grant Williams (#12), was an active part of his club's victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA play-offs , Saturday, May 21, 2022 at TD Garden in Boston ELSA GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

The Miami coach, on the other hand, had not foreseen the Butler quack.

But it didn't take many words to push his players to redouble their energy in the absence of the star, because the DNA of the Heat has fighting spirit as its first genome.

Not that Boston lacked it, quite the contrary, but the extra soul was on the side of the Heat, who did not lose their means too much, even when Jaylen Brown was untenable in the last quarter, with his " splash" making the circle look like it was the size of an ocean.

Author of 14 points in this period, he finished with 40 (14/20 on shots, 9 rebounds).

Faulty Tatum

Less than three minutes from the end, the C's thus reattached to a unit (93-92) and we did not give much of the skin of the Heat.

But Max Strus (16 pts) responded, also with an award-winning shot, then Adebayo with a "clutch" shot at the 24-second buzzer, before PJ Tucker (17 pts, 7 rebounds, 3 interceptions) and Victor Oladipo, him also remarkable in defense with 4 interceptions, put valuable free throws.

So the Heat held on, while doing without their two best gunners, because if Butler ended up seeing the performance of his team from the bench, Tyler Herro was present, but his 8 points (4/15) once again illustrated his current difficulties.

Fortunately for Miami, the best striker opposite, Jayson Tatum, also missed his appointment (10 pts, 3/14, 6 rebounds, 4 assists).

Further proof that it is definitely very difficult to shine from one match to another, in this extremely tight game.

The Celtics, who have nevertheless been able to count on Al Horford (20 pts, 14 rebounds) and the warrior Marcus Smart (16 pts, 7 assists) to almost succeed in their comeback, will have to bounce back from Monday in their TD Garden, if they want to take their revenge on the 2020 conference final, lost to the Heat in the Orlando bubble.

© 2022 AFP