Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals taught us that this is going to be one series that will go down the wire, and although Miami Heat won Game 2 to go 2-0 up on Boston Celtics in the NBA Playoffs, the outcome did not tell all the story.
Celtics had led by as much as 17pts with about 2mins to go into the break, but Heat played a very good 3rd quarter that saw them reduce the deficit and hit the front, capitalizing on the advantage to go on and win the game 106-101.
At the epicenter of Miami’s impressive turnaround was Bam Adebayo who made 15pts in the 3rd quarter, which helped propel Heat to outscore Celtics by 20pts in that quarter (37-17).
Bam through 3 on ESPN:
19 PTS | 7 REB | 4 AST | 2 STL pic.twitter.com/GKAmNHa8Gc
— NBA (@NBA) September 18, 2020
The Center finished with a double-double, making 21pts and 10rebs in the game. No other player on the court made as many rebounds as Adebayo who made 7 defensive rebounds for his team and chipped in with 2 steals.
Adebayo was the headliner in Game 1 after he made a game-saving block for Heat off Jayson Tatum in Overtime, which would have tilted the game to Celtics with less than 4s left on the clock, this time around, his points in the 3rd quarter changed the game for Miami.
TWO MORE. pic.twitter.com/na0y2zTufk
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) September 18, 2020
Playing for Celtics, Semi Ojeleye saw some action for his team, playing for 8mins:54s, while D’Tigers player, Gabe Vincent was an inactive player for Miami Heat.
Heat might be 2-0 up, but Celtics have really given them a good run in these first two games. The games have been very close and could have really swung either way.
Brad Stevens: “We’re not beating this team if we’re not completely connected on both ends of the court. So we’ve got to get back to being that … We’re going to have to fight to get back into this series.”
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 18, 2020