Celtics

The power forward broke a record previously held by Steph Curry while Boston stifled Milwaukee's offense.

The Celtics finished first in the NBA in defensive rating and a fraction of a point behind Phoenix for the lead in net rating. “Miami is a really tough team,” Brown said. But there was a method to the madness. In January, the defense clicked. He made four of his 10 attempts in the second. "It’s tough to get in your own head when your entire team, 15 people, walk up to you and tell you to keep shooting,” said Williams. He finished 3-8 in the first half. And a 23-footer that didn’t have a shot. And a turnover. Antetokounmpo made six of his first nine shots, overpowering Celtics defenders on his way to the rim. They were 17-43 in a Game 6 win. In the final moments on Sunday, as Tatum and Brown headed to the bench, with the roar of more than 19,000 fans greeting them, it felt redeemed. The Bucks built a 10-point lead early.

The Boston Celtics have a terrific opportunity to win their first NBA championship since 2008 – and overtake the LA Lakers for the most titles.

The Celtics have been building for this moment for years with this group. Tatum will be the best offensive player on the court in the Miami series and he has shown growth in his game – the ability to take over as he did in Game 6 and the patience not to force offense as he did in Game 7 even with 23 points on just 14 shots. And Al Horford has been around, getting ready for his fourth conference finals. Tatum scored 46 points in Game 6, Horford 30 points in Game 4 and Williams 27 points in Game 7. “This is the group that I feel like is poised enough to get it done," Celtics star Jaylen Brown said. “I feel like everything we’ve overcome – all these battles and challenges and adversity that we’ve been through this season as well as the challenge that we just had overcoming the defending champs – I feel we are prepared.

"Grant won us a playoff game tonight," Jayson Tatum said. "A Game 7." Williams had a career-high 27 points, while Tatum had 23 of his own as the Celtics ...

"When I got the block, I was just super excited and really, really pumped," Williams said. This is Boston's fourth trip to the Eastern Conference finals in the past six seasons. Williams didn't enter the NBA as a 3-point shooter. In Game 7, the strategy was to leave Williams open. "They are disrespecting you more tonight than they were earlier in the series. Williams hit his first 3-pointer to open the game but missed five of his next six attempts. "It's tough to get into your head when your entire team, like 15 people, walk up to you and say keep shooting," Williams said. Boston needed to win Games 6 and 7 after blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 5 that allowed the Bucks to take a 3-2 lead. Shoot the shot that they are giving you." Bucks center Brook Lopez, who drew the Williams assignment early, left Williams on the wing to take away any drives that Brown and Tatum wanted. He doubled that mark with 18 3-point attempts in Game 7, breaking the NBA's Game 7 record for attempts, held by Curry. "Grant won us a playoff game tonight," Jayson Tatum said.

Miami has home-court advantage, while Boston has depth and enters the East finals riding a stifling defense.

The Heat’s bench ranks just 10th, where Tyler Herro was the Kia Sixth Man of the Year. But Miami has been 35.1 points per 100 possessions better with him off the floor (plus-29.9) than it’s been with him on the floor (minus-5.2). That’s mostly about the strength of the starters — the Heat have outscored the Hawks and Sixers by 25.8 per 100 in 165 total minutes with their four healthy starters on the floor — but bench minutes could be critical, and the Celtics seemingly have more players they can trust on both ends of the floor. But the Celtics, with fewer defensive weak spots and Tatum’s shot-making, should have better solutions for the Heat’s switching than vice-versa. That was the league’s second-highest opponent rate, topped only by that of … the Heat, who allowed their opponents to take 45.6% of their shots from deep. The Heat don’t have the storied history of the Celtics, but they’re in the conference finals for the ninth time in the franchise’s 34 seasons. 53 — The Celtics made 53 more 3-pointers than the Milwaukee Bucks in their seven-game conference semifinal series. They’ve barely allowed a point per possession (100.5 per 100) over those six games and won the six by an average of 17 points. Robert Williams III (left knee soreness) has missed the last four games for the Celtics, but could be the more likely of the two to play early in this series. And in these playoffs, Butler has averaged 28.7 points per game with improved shooting both in and outside the paint. That was the biggest such differential in a playoff series in NBA history. In the regular season, the Bucks allowed their opponents to take 44.8% of their shots from beyond the arc. Kyle Lowry (left hamstring strain) has missed six of Miami’s last eight games and did not look good when he tried to play Game 4 of the conference semis. Home-court advantage matters this time, and the Heat have it as the East’s top seed.

Grant Williams, Al Horford and other Celtics stepped up to contribute against the Bucks.

The Celtics haven’t been to an NBA Finals since 2010, but they have their latest shot as one of the last four teams standing on the season. And that’s another opportunity for the role players to thrive based on their matchups. As the Celtics and Heat are set to meet in Game 1, set for 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in Miami, both teams will likely expect another rock fight of a series. Then the role players — whoever it happens to be on a given game — can slide in to make the Celtics that much more dangerous in the postseason. The Heat, too, have a deep roster where they can get points from a number of sources. BOSTON — It took the Celtics all of seven games to dispatch the Bucks — even coming back from a 3-2 deficit — but they finally got past the defending champions.

Grant Williams shot his way out of a slump and helped lift the Celtics over the Bucks in Game 7 and into the Eastern Conference Finals.

“We understand what it is and wanted to take the cautious approach, and if we need to get him in, we would, but I would say a little bit of both. We’ll have to be able to lock in and focus in on our game plan against them.” “We won two of the last three without him and had a chance to win Game 5 obviously, so it wasn’t like we were desperate to get him back,” Udoka said. 4. If you believe in any form of basketball karma, the Celtics facing the Bucks in a Game 7 at TD Garden is a point in your favor. They were scoring 80-90 a game and Giannis was scoring 40 of them. All season, the Bucks allowed opponents to shoot 3-pointers and zeroed in on defending the rim. After one of his threes, which put the Celtics up by 20, he could be seen screaming at the Celtics bench: “This is what I do!” You saw it on the first one that he made and then he missed a few and got a little hesitant, and I basically said ‘Shoot the ball.’ Like, what else can you do? So it was just a matter of continuing to execute what we wanted to do, get those open looks, and take advantage of them.” Williams looked like he might have a tough time on Sunday — he started the game 2-for-7 from deep and pump-faked his way out of a couple shots. So it was just a matter of if that’s how they want to play it, I’ve worked on my shot enough to be able to knock those down and be confident enough to shoot them. Early in Game 7, they made it clear that they were fine with Williams and Derrick White firing from deep as long as Tatum and Jaylen Brown didn’t beat them.

Here's the schedule for Celtics vs. Heat in the Eastern Conference finals after the Celtics advanced with a win over the Bucks on Sunday.

“We just got to go out and take it. “I feel like everything that we’ve overcome, all these battles and challenges and adversity that we’ve been through this season, as well as the the challenge that we just had overcoming the defending champs, I think that we are prepared. Jaylen Brown was asked why he believes this Celtics team could get out of the East for the first time since 2010. Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 29 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN (@ Miami) Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, May 27 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN (@ Boston) Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 25 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN (@ Miami)

This is the fifth time that Miami and Boston will meet in the postseason, and the third time in the Conference Finals. Previously, Boston won a first round ...

Playing against Milwaukee, which allowed the second-highest percentage of opponent attempts from deep, Boston attempted threes at a rate that would have ranked No. 4 in the regular season. - The HEAT finished No. 8 at 0.97 points-per-isolation while the Celtics were No. 13 at 0.95. Of the 54 players who used at least 250 isolations this season, Butler was No. 7 at 1.09 points-per-isolation. - The Celtics and HEAT were No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in terms of how often they switched pick-and-rolls this season, with the two teams also forcing the most opponent isolations per 100 possessions. - The HEAT were the No. 1 three-point shooting team in the league at 37.9 percent, while the Celtics were No. 14 at 35.6. - Miami's 106-98 victory on March 30 came as part of the team's six-game winning streak at the end of the season, with Butler and Lowry combining for 47 points - This is the fifth time that Miami and Boston will meet in the postseason, and the third time in the Conference Finals. Previously, Boston won a first round series, 4-1, in 2010, Miami won a Second Round series, 4-1, in 2011, Miami won the 2012 Conference Finals in seven games and in 2020 Miami won another Conference Finals in six games. - On November 4, Boston ended Miami's five-game winning streak with a 95-78 victory on the road. - Boston won by 30 at home on January 31. - Miami led the league in allowing their opponents to take 41.9 percent of their shots from three. - Miami defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 4-1, in the First Round and the Philadelphia 76ers, 4-2, in the Second Round. Boston swept the Brooklyn Nets before dispatching the Milwaukee Bucks, 4-3, after seven games in Conference Semifinals. - Boston won the season series, 2-1, with Miami's win coming in Boston. - In three games against Boston, Miami posted an Offensive Rating of 96.8 and Defensive Rating of 108.6.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics have finalized their injury reports for Game 7 on Sunday afternoon.

The Heat are the first seed in the Eastern Conference, so they will have home-court advantage over either team in the next round. The Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series, so they have been waiting for the winner of this season. The series between the Celtics and Bucks has been phenomenal as each team has won multiple games on the road, so no team has had the true home-court advantage.

The Miami Heat are looking to go to the NBA Finals for the sixth time in the past 11 years. To do so, they must get past the Boston Celtics.

Robinson then retired, but with the emergence of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs went on to win three more titles, in 2005, 2007 and 2014. The Lakers struggled this year as an aging LeBron couldn’t get to the playoffs with the oft-injured Anthony Davis and the erratic Russell Westbrook. However, being the Lakers, you’d expect them to lure another big-named free agent soon and get back on their path of greatness. With Robinson and Duncan, the team went on to win two NBA titles, in 1999 and 2003. After Magic Johnson’s abrupt retirement in 1991 because of his HIV diagnosis, the Lakers could have been in big trouble. However, during the 1996-97 season Robinson hurt his back, then broke his foot and missed most of the season, leaving the Spurs with the third-worst record in the league. Speaking of excellence across the decades, the Los Angeles Lakers embody that. For maintaining excellence across the decades, the Heat are No. 2. In 2004, they drafted Dwyane Wade, then signed Shaquille O’Neal the following season. Even so, they deserve to be considered in the Top 5 since 1990. The Warriors had some fun teams in the early 1990s, with Chris Mullen, Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond, but they failed to do anything meaningful. Enter Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Through great drafting, the Warriors have been one of the best teams over the past decade. According to statista.com, the median age in the United States is 38.1, so that means roughly half the country’s population wasn’t alive for 14 of their 17 championships.

How did the Celtics go from 11th in the East to the Eastern Conference Finals? Our Chris Forsberg reflects on a special squad that has coalesced into one of ...

As the Patriots try to find their footing in Year 3 AB (After Brady), the Celtics are positioned to steal the sports heart of this city this summer. But Heinsohn would have loved the spunk of this team and the way they’ve found themselves despite the adversity. The Celtics have an identity now and it starts on the defensive end. Al Horford, the 35-year-old big man on his second tour of duty in green, seems to be savoring every moment of this journey. Marcus Smart is the glue holding it all together, all while willing to let his body fall apart in the quest of a single defensive stop. The Celtics adopted the swagger and confidence of first-year coach Ime Udoka, who was finally able to get his team to buy fully into his desires on both ends of the court. Smart repeatedly got hit in the quad, kneed below the belt, and ate roughly 57 elbows in and around his head. Daniel Theis filled some of Time Lord’s minutes and held up well despite the challenges of defending Antetokounmpo. Tatum is a legitimate star now -- kicking down the door on the NBA’s perpetual Top 5 conversation -- and a player who can dominate a game without scoring. The Celtics were a nauseating blob of inconsistency, a team that complained too much and came unglued too often. Jayson Tatum spent the season making Carl Lewis-like leaps, culminating with his magnum opus: a 46-point outing in Game 6. Watching them fumble away a win in a national TV game against the lowly Knicks inside Madison Square Garden in early January -- a loss that dropped the team to three games under .500 and 11th place in the Eastern Conference -- had most fans checked out on this team.

Without their second star, Khris Middleton, it was an accomplishment itself for Giannis and the Bucks to get this far. An even bigger one?

In truth, it was an accomplishment for the Bucks to reach Game 7. "It's one of the toughest things to do, find that balance," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. In Game 7, it was outrageous; the Bucks made 1 of 23 over the last three quarters, and the Celtics set a franchise record by making 22 total. And Khris Middleton -- Antetokounmpo's All-Star teammate, shot creator and clutch scorer -- missed the entire series because of a knee injury suffered in the first round. "Giannis is the best player in the world. Already with a dazzling postseason résumé, the performance Antetokounmpo put forth in this second-round series was still one for the ages.

The top five plays from Game 7 between the Celtics and Bucks include Jayson Tatum euro-stepping his way to the basket and Daniel Theis denying Giannis ...

Instead, he takes on the challenge and does a great job going up with his arms out, extending his right arm to deny Portis' dunk without fouling. Smart swings the ball to Tatum, Williams picks off Jrue Holiday, Lopez steps up to occupy the middle of the paint, and Tatum delivers a perfect pass as this well-designed set play produces an alley-oop for Brown, who finishes through contact. Also featured are Jaylen Brown finishing an alley-oop through contact, Payton Pritchard cooking in the fourth quarter, and Grant Williams besting Bobby Portis.

Taking a deeper look at the Eastern Conference Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, keying on the key matchups.

Back in 2020, the Heat outlasted the Celtics in six games before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. Interestingly, both the Celtics and Heat lost in the first round of the playoffs last season. In an attempt to find the answer to that, there are some sub-matchups that need to be figured out first. The big question, of course, heading into this series is whether or not the outcome will be any different?

The No. 2 seed Boston Celtics and No. 1 seed Miami Heat face off in the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2022 NBA Playoffs.

Boston is equipped to guard the Heat in the halfcourt with almost no weak defenders in the rotation. The Heat are going to fight like hell, but I'm picking the Celtics in six." Boston's dominant defense will slow down everyone but Butler in the conference finals, and should flip first and second on that net rating leaderboard." Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Jimmy Butler is playing at a whole other level on both ends of the court. This should be another competitive series, with tough defenses to crack on both ends of the floor. The expectation here is that Butler’s defense will be enough to prevent Jayson Tatum from dominating on the offensive end of the court. But the Celtics are 4-1 on the road, having saved their season with a huge win in Milwaukee in Game 6 of the conference semis. On the other end, it feels like Boston has enough spacing to stretch out the Heat defense and let Tatum go to work against a Heat defense with more weak spots. They will force the other players on the Heat to beat them. He's been unbelievable in the NBA Playoffs, but the Celtics are a team designed to shut him down. John Schuhmann writes: "The Heat have home-court advantage, they had the East’s best home record (29-12) in the regular season, and they’re 6-0 at home in the playoffs.

Williams hit seven 3s and led the team with 27 points.

Lopez camped out in the paint to prevent the Celtics from getting anything easy at the rim, and dared Williams to win Game 7. As the Bucks tried in vain to make one last comeback, Portis got loose in transition and went hard to the basket. That may have just been a defensive miscommunication, but the Bucks made a purposeful decision to leave Williams alone the rest of the time. They leaned into that approach in Game 7, and essentially spun a big roulette wheel that they hoped would land on "missed 3s." His final line was 27 points, six rebounds and two blocks on 10 of 22 from the field and 7 of 18 from 3-point land. The message during Sunday's Game 7 was a bit different: "I told him let it fly," Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said.

The Miami Heat are playing the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years. Here's what the Celtics players had to ...

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum: “We get to play Miami again. Guys that aren’t going to give you anything, not an inch. Guys that aren’t going to give up.

For the series, Boston outscored Milwaukee by 159 points from 3.

As the series went on, however, a greater percentage of Boston's 3-point attempts came on their terms, and as the quality of those looks improved, so too did the results. They converged on every breach, swallowed Boston whole, and when they weren't creating a turnover and getting out in transition, they were forcing the Celtics to settle for 50 3-pointers. Those 50 3-pointers were on Milwaukee's terms, and it was indeed not a coincidence that the Bucks won that game going away. It came to a breaking point on Sunday. You just can't lose the 3-point battle 66-12 and win a basketball game, let alone a Game 7 in the NBA playoffs. The man won a title last season, and he made it to Game 7 against what might well be the best team in the league without an All-NBA-caliber player in Middleton. Factor in Milwaukee's 22-point advantage in the paint (48-26), and that's a 32-point margin between Boston's 3s and Milwaukee's paint points.

The Celtics and Heat will meet in the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in 10 years, and oddsmakers expect Boston to prevail and reach the 2022 ...

The Celtics are a much more talented and deeper team than they were in 2020 when the Heat defeated them in six games inside the bubble. Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine think C's can beat the Heat in ECF Boston eliminated the star-studded Brooklyn Nets in a stunning Round 1 sweep before beating the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in a seven-game Round 2 series.

The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat are set to meet in the Eastern Conference Finals. What team has the best chance to win it all?

Boston is looking to get over the hump of getting past the ECF. The Celtics have made the Conference Finals three times since 2017, with this year being the fourth. The Heat would go on to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, so winning this series to avenge their loss is team motivation. Credit to the incredible team defense that the Celtics play.

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says he expects the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics to be a 'throwback series' between two great ...

You got to tip your hat to that and respect him, I think those are the guys that you want to go up against." "I think every player on our team has that 'next man up' mentality and people have stepped up all year. No matter who is on the floor, they have found a way -- a fact that must hold true if they want to advance to the NBA Finals given Kyle Lowry's uncertain status as he continues to deal with a hamstring injury. "Either team that we were to end up facing, whether it be Milwaukee or Boston, is a really, really, really good team," Heat swingman Jimmy Butler said. The Heat speak with a great deal of respect while discussing the challenges the Celtics pose in this series. Really, we were the two best teams in the East most of the season and it's fitting that we're moving into the conference finals."

The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat face off on Tuesday at FTX Arena in Miami in Game 1 of their NBA Playoffs series. Who will win?

Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. As for their offense, the Celtics will surely be relying upon the hot hands of Jayson Tatum, who has averaged 34.3 points in the last three games. Jason Logan writes: "While I’m not putting too much weight into past matchups, the most recent game between these franchises saw Miami check the Celtics to just 41% shooting and force 17 turnovers in a 106-98 victory in the Garden on March 30. Andrew Hughes writes: "As you can tell, the Houdini is confident in Boston winning this series based more so on what Ime Udoka has accomplished with this group and even more so from the 2-1 regular season edge and +39 point differential. As a team, the Celtics, who are making 14.5 threes per game in the playoffs, are 8-2 against the spread in their last 10 outings." More: Dallas Mavericks vs. More: Dallas Mavericks vs. More: Dallas Mavericks vs. More: Boston Celtics vs. More: Boston Celtics vs. Boston Celtics vs.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 109-81 on Sunday, winning this Eastern Conference Semifinals series in seven games and advancing to the ...

So far this postseason, Williams has been that third guy to step up for them and while his numbers may not always show it, Grant Williams is one of the most impactful players on Boston’s roster right now. Jayson Tatum led the way with 26 made threes in this series and Jaylen Brown had 21, but Grant Williams hit 17 big three-pointers, Al Horford made 14 and Marcus Smart made 13. As mentioned before, the Celtics made 110 total threes against Milwaukee and Williams accounted for 17 of these, the third-most on the team. Getting this kind of production from the three-point line in the playoffs has been vital for the Celtics, especially since the Bucks had their way in terms of attacking the paint and outscoring Boston in the paint. Both the Bucks and Celtics are two championship-worthy teams, but the Celtics are the ones who will be advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. Here is what we learned looking back on this series between the two heavyweights in the Eastern Conference. This Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks was by far the best playoff series we have seen this year and it is quite sad to see this series end.

The Celtics earned an impressive series victory over the defending champion Bucks, but they face a much different challenge in the East-leading Heat.

The Heat's frontcourt of Bam Adebayo and P.J. Tucker is more well-equipped to defend the perimeter, so the Celtics shouldn't count on Grant Williams getting wide-open looks in this series. The Bucks racked up 76 offensive rebounds to the Celtics' 53 and won the rebounding battle 346-299. Celtics-Bucks may have been a shorter series had Milwaukee not dominated on the glass. That duo accounted for 56 percent of Milwaukee's shot attempts against the Celtics. Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine think C's can beat the Heat in ECF Celtics Talk: Grant Curry the Game 7 hero?

The Celtics said Monday that Marcus Smart is questionable for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals due to a midfoot sprain he suffered Sunday in Game 7 ...

It's just a given that both teams are going to go hard." "Even though the first round was very physical for us, it's not going to be any different. "It's the playoffs, and I feel like the deeper that you go, it's more intense, it's physical," Horford said.