BOSTON – The Boston Celtics exorcised last year’s demons by sending the Miami Heat packing for an early summer vacation Wednesday night, as they closed out their first-round series in emphatic fashion at TD Garden.
On the very same court where Miami eliminated Boston from last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics got their revenge with a 118-84 Game 5 win, pushing them forward into the East semis.
It marked the fourth meeting between these teams in the last five postseasons, and they’ve taken turns alternating series wins. Miami ousted the Celtics in the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals. Boston got its revenge in the 2022 Conference Finals. The Heat punched back in the 2023 ECF. And the C’s retaliated with Wednesday’s first-round win while riding a pair of 25-point efforts from Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.
“We’ve just had such great battles against them,” said White. “In the past, we've had opportunities to close them out, especially on the home court, and have failed. So being able to close them out here tonight, and to do it the way we did it, it’s definitely big.”
For the most part, the Celtics dominated the series. All four of their wins were by at least 14 points, including three by at least 20. Their plus-78 scoring differential is the best by any team to this point in the playoffs – 15 points better than the second-place Thunder. And that was all a result of their approach going into each of these games.
“We talked about wanting to throw the first punch,” said White. “And I think we did that pretty much for the whole series.”
The only blip was their 104-94 Game 2 loss. But Boston didn’t feel the slightest sense of panic when Miami evened the series and just kept plowing ahead like it did all season long. Outside of the lone loss, the Celtics trailed for only 56 seconds in the other four games combined.
“We've been doing this all year,” said White. “We've had games where it might seem like it was a big loss, but we just bounce back, regroup, and everybody's just been on the same page all season. It's the playoffs; there's going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. That's what makes it amazing. That's what makes it fun. And so we’ve got to be ready to not get too high on those wins and not get too low on losses, and just keep improving.”
One area in which the Celtics improved as the series progressed was their collective physicality. That was the main attribute that the Heat had going for them, and Boston did an excellent job of matching or exceeding them in that area.
Brown especially liked how he and his teammates battled on the boards. Boston was plus-47 on the glass for the series, including a 56-29 rebounding advantage in Game 5.
“That’s a sign of it: staying on the glass,” Brown said their physical approach. “Being able to set that tone has helped our team and that’s where we’ve gotta continue to thrive is just being the more physical, tougher-playing team. We’ve got a bunch of tough guys in that locker room, so we’re up for the challenge.”
They were up for the challenge against the Heat. And now they’ll be up for the next challenge in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, whether it comes against Cleveland or Orlando.