In 150 occasions, a team with such a deficit has never reversed this compromised situation, to win the series in seven games. This is what seems to be able to accomplish Boston, which will be favorite to win the final meeting, Monday at TD Garden, in front of its public, and validate a second consecutive presence on the last step of the championship, to better dream of a record 18th title.

It was better not to be cardiac in Miami, for this sixth game of the finals of the Eastern Conference, which will undoubtedly remain in the annals. Because it didn't take much for the Celtics to fall by the wayside and for the Heat to carry out a funny hold-up, after hanging on until the end.

Exactly two-tenths of a second. Enough time for Derrick White, rising to the rebound after a missed long-range attempt by Marcus Smart (21 pts), succeeds in his tap and the ball leaves his fingers, before the red light displaying on the panel the end of the game.

"Back to the wall"

"We had our backs to the wall. I'm glad we won. We are a resilient group. We lift each other up. We fought for each other," said the hero of the evening.

"It's the only place where the ball could have bounced to hurt us. We anticipated a lot of things about this action and sometimes things don't go the way we would like them to," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The slow motion left little room for doubt about the validity of the basket, the great joy of the C's, suddenly miraculous but deserving, and the chagrin of the Heat, long disarticulated but still valiant, who thought they would join the Nuggets in the finals, when Jimmy Butler did not flinch when entering his three free throws inherited from a foul yet avoidable by Al Horford.

© Mike Ehrmann/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

With three seconds left, Miami was back in front for the second time in the quarter, after being led for so long, even manhandled, trailing up to 12 units in the previous one.

"Returns from hell"

Symbol of this resurrection, which will certainly not have been enough at the end of this battle of great intensity, Butler scored 13 of his 24 points in the last four minutes, after having suffered martyrdom in the face of repeated two-man catches on his paletot, lamenting a half-mast skill (5/21 shooting, 11 rbds, 8 assists).

Before his awakening, his lieutenants held the Heat house by being dexterous behind the arc (14/30), like Caleb Martin (21 pts) and Gabe Vincent (15 pts), valuable for his return from injury, he who missed the previous game due to a sprained ankle.

The C's, who took out the barbed wire in their racket and won the fight inside, relied for a long time on Jayson Tatum (31 pts, 12 rbds), their main driving force with Jaylen Brown (26 pts, 10 rbds), Robert Williams III deploying a lot of energy (10 pts, 7 rbds).

Boston is still a postsiter for three games, but he has made sure that Miami has, like him now, its feet on the edge of the abyss, thanks to a final action that may leave big traces on his opponent, because the Floridians have enough to be K.O. standing.

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown speaks during a press conference after Game Six of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, May 27, 2023 © Megan Briggs/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

"It's a real boost for confidence. There is nothing worse than being led 0-3. We feel like we've come back from hell. But all of that means nothing if we don't give our best on our home field on Monday night," Brown said.

© 2023 AFP