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BOSTON CELTICS AGAIN TOP MIAMI HEAT

By Arnie Leshin 

Maybe the Boston Celtics have heard it 150 times, but they are still in there scraping and doing enough to outplay the 8th-seeded Miami Heat. 

 
And with Thursday night‘s 110-97 second-straight impressive win, the second-seeded green has cut the deficit to 3-2 as Saturday’s National Basketball Association’s Eastern Conference Game 6 finals nears in Miami.
 
Once again, it was a balanced attack that cooled off the Heat, with Derrick White paving the way with the game-high 24 points that included six 3-pointers, Marcus Smart added 23 points and five steals, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown tallied 21 apiece.
 
It was the second straight triumph for a Boston team. Down 3-0, it to win in Miami and did, and now it had to win in Bean Town and did. 
 
Thus, the Celts are halfway to becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 gap and win a series. 
 
“We’ve got to do whatever it takes to get a win,” said White. 
 
This comes after Boston also had to overcome a 3-2 deficit against the 3rd-seeded Philadelphia 76ers to gain the conference final. 
 
And waiting for the survivor are the Denver Nuggets, the Western Conference winner.
 
For Denver, it’s the first time to this level, and in quest of its initial league championship in the 47 years of the franchise. To get this far, it swept the 7th-seeded Los Angeles Lakers. 
 
But right now, Boston and Miami have their mind-set versus each other. 
 
Said first-year Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla: “Listen, it just says that our backs are against the wall and we’re sticking together and we’re competing at a high level to give ourselves a chance.” 
 
But Miami’s Jimmy Butler, after his lowest-scoring game of these playoffs, 14 points, continued his confident leadership.
 
“We’re always going to stay positive, knowing that we can and will win the series,” he said, “we just have to close it out at home.” 
 
A day after the National Hockey League’s eighth-seeded Florida Panthers punched the franchise’s first ticket to the Stanley Cup finals since 1996, for the second straight game Miami was denied a spot in the NBA finals. 
 
Duncan Robinson led the Heat with 18 points, Bam Adebayo tossed in 16 to go with a game-high eight rebounds, Butler took down five boards and handed out five assists, and Caleb Martin totaled 14 points. 
 
Game time Saturday is 6:30 p.m. on TNT. For the home side before an expected sell-out, it’s one more win needed, for the Celtics, it’s another win required to remain in the hunt.
 
Meanwhile, it’s a long wait for the Nuggets in their first time to play for the title, but they do get the advantage of the first two of the best-of-seven series. 

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