Finally Draymond Green, who had shouted it a little too soon, was right.

Boston will be opposed from June 2 to Golden State, to try to win a record 18th title in 22 finals and to regain the lead over their eternal rivals the Los Angeles Lakers, who joined them at the top of the list in 2020 after their coronation at the expense of the Miami Heat, which the men in green beat on the night of Sunday to Monday, during an intoxicating match 7 (96-100).

“It's what you work for all your life, reacted Jaylen Brown.

We must relish, but also rise to the challenge.

We are going to play against a team that has already been there and has already been champions.

We will have to produce our best game”.

The "Jay-Jay", Brown and Tatum, perfectly supported by Marcus Smart, were paramount to the success of the Celtics.

Between them, they scored three-quarters of the team's points (24, 24 and 20).

Tatum Conference Finals MVP

Tatum (10 rbds 6 assists, 2 blocks), who wore a flocked armband of his idol Kobe Bryant's No. 24 "to invoke his know-how in games 7", was in cold blood, awarded the MVP trophy of the Eastern Conference Finals.

This trio was not too much to prevent Jimmy Butler (35 pts, 9 rebounds), still heroic, and Bam Adebayo on the inside (25 pts, 11 rebounds), from allowing the Heat to achieve a sacred comeback.

Because Boston has always been in front of the score in this meeting, its lead culminating at 17 units (34-17, then 45-32).

And seeing Miami only point to -6 at the break was a bit of a miracle.

But this miracle bore Butler's name.

In this second quarter, the winger held his own at arm's length, facing C's then much more skilful behind the arc (8/20 against 3/13) and much better organized, scoring 18 of 24 points (at 8/11 on shots) of his first period.

The C's come back from afar

But after adding twelve more points in the 3rd quarter, during which the gap between the two teams played like an accordion, going from two (56-54) to thirteen units (67-54), Jimmy started to tire.

Illustration 16 seconds from the end, when the Heat had come back to two points again with a new banderilla from Strus: he lacked lucidity by preferring to shoot from long distance to put his people in front for the first time, rather than go to the circle to seek equalization.

Missed shot, and behind, Marcus Smart (9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 interceptions) put the two free throws that sent the Celtics to the final.

“Achieving it with this group means everything.

Few believed in us, but we got there, ”commented Tatum, recalling that at the beginning of January, mid-season, after 41 games, his team was in negative (20 wins-21 losses) and was in eleventh place, excluded from the play-offs.

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