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103-104. The Celtics of miracles force game 7 in the last breath

And when the series between Miami and Boston seemed totally decanted. When the Heat led the series by a resounding 0-3 ... The unexpected came (for now).

A miraculous basket by Derrick White with 0.1 seconds left gave the Boston Celtics a 104-103 win Saturday at the Miami Heat and evened the NBA Eastern Finals series from 0-3 to 3-3 to force game seven Monday at Boston's TD Garden.

The hardness of the feat that Boston has already achieved is made clear by the statistics: no team in the history of the NBA had managed to overcome a 0-3 in a series of 'playoffs' in 150 previous and the Celtics are now one step away from working a real sporting miracle after winning three consecutive times to the Heat. They were out with 0.1 on the clock, but White got a high-merit offensive rebound after a three-pointer attempted by Marcus Smart and left Miami's Kaseya Center speechless. There was a check of the stopwatch, but everything was done.

It was the fifth time this postseason that the Celtics won a life-or-death game. They did it twice against the Philadelphia 76ers and already three times against the Heat.

End of heart attack for the Heat

It was a heart attack end in a game of tremendous intensity, with the Heat that despite their tremendous offensive difficulties, theyovercame ten points of disadvantage in the fourth period and took a 103-102 lead with three free throws scored by Jimmy Butler with three seconds to play.

It seemed to be the sentence on the Celtics, but White's play will take the series to Boston for the seventh and decisive game, with the ticket to the Finals against the Denver Nuggets at stake and a comeback for the history of the sport.

White finished with 11 points, four rebounds and six assists and became the unexpected hero of a night in which Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, 25 of them in the first half and in which Jaylen Brown finished with 26.

The Celtics, who connected on seven of 35 three-pointers, overwhelmed a Heat that, despite their 33 of 93 shooting, were one step away from flying to the Finals for the second time in three years.

Butler, in tremendous trouble for three and a half quarters, shot his level at the decisive moment and finished with 24 points, eleven rebounds and eight assists despite his five of 24 shooting.

Nor did the 21 points and fifteen rebounds of Caleb Martin in the team of Erik Spoelstra, now forced to triumph in the TD Garden to avoid suffering an unprecedented comeback.

Tatum's 25 points at halftime

Tatum gave a recital in the first half. He took responsibility and scored 25 points at halftime. He fouled the Heat and was perfect from the free throw line, 11-of-11.

He scored eight straight points for the Celtics in the second period and drove in a 10-2 run that shot the lead to 11 points at 52-41 against a Heat in which Butler was slow to pick up pace.

The Heat star started with two of 10 on shooting, but he showed his face at that moment and, with nine points, put Miami four points away at halftime.

Smart was the only one to shoot with ease from the triple and connected the third of his night for the 62-55, but his team got stuck and Miami managed to get to just two points (62-60), with Jaylen Brown forced to sit on the bench by committing his fourth foul with 9.45 on the clock in the third quarter.

More intensity in the match

Balance was restored and intensity increased. It was at that moment when the game gave an unusual image, with Caleb Martin who lost a shoe in an offensive action and returned to defend with the shoe in one hand, until committing a foul, so as not to leave his team with one less in that play.

Miami struggled to score and suffered an 0-9 run after missing 17 of 20 field goals that allowed the Celtics to add their maximum lead at 78-65.

But a long series of loose balls allowed Spoelstra's men to stay seven points away despite their two leaders, Butler and Adebayo adding together a five of 28 in shooting.

They showed throughout this postseason their competitive soul and this Saturday they did it again by taking their first lead since 11-9 in 83-82 and by coming back, once again, ten points behind to take a 103-102 lead with just three seconds to play.

And White's miracle came.

They did it guided by a Butler who, with 100-102 in the luminous and 16 seconds to play, forced a foul by Horford to go to the free throw line to shoot three. He didn't tremble. He connected on all three and gavethe Heat a lead with three seconds to play.

In the stands the party has already begun, but on the bench of the Heat Butler asked for maximum concentration to his own.

The Celtics, who showed all the worst and all the best in these 'playoffs', launched Smart's desperate triple. The hoop repelled him, but White appeared with a tap-in with 0.1 on the stopwatch.

His teammates jumped on him to celebrate when the referees were still reviewing the play. The images showed that he had arrived on time and that one of the most unpredictable series ever will be decided in the seventh game, this Monday at the TD Garden.

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