Celtics take 3-2 lead in the finals

Coach Ime Udoka’s and Erik Spoelstra’s teams were unrecognizable on the court of the FTX Arena in Miami, as at the end of the first half they had scored 37 and 42 points, respectively, for Florida’s advantage.

The Heat had the obligation to win at home to take the lead and travel calmly to Boston in anticipation of the sixth game that will be on Friday at TD Garde; however, they were erratic both individually and collectively. Bam Adebayo was Miami’s best player registering a double-double of 18 points and 10 boards, while the team’s star, Jimmy Butler, had 13 points.

As a team, the Heat had poor numbers: 31.9% from the field, 15.6% from the arc; they recovered a little from the free throw line where they registered 92.9%.

Boston was not much superior, but their 46.5% from the field and 30.3% from beyond the arc slightly ‘made up’ for the failures from the ‘sigh line’ of which they left with 73.9%.

The Celtic ‘Big Three’ had in Jayson Tatum its best anchor with a double-double of 22 points and a dozen rebounds; Jaylen Brown contributed with 25 units and the DPOY, Marcus Smart finished with 5 points, one of his worst numbers of the season.

Boston has a great chance to advance to the NBA Finals if it wins at home on Friday, perhaps already knowing its opponent for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.