Martin helps Heat to 103-84 Game 7 win over Celtics, spot in NBA Finals

BOSTON (AP)— Jimmy Butler scored 28 points and Caleb Martin had 26 points and10 rebounds in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Mondaynight to help the Miami Heat beat the Celtics 103-84 and turn backBoston’s attempt at an unprecedented comeback.

The Heatrecovered after blowing a 3-0 lead in the series and advanced tothe NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons. They will facethe Western Conference champion Nuggets, with Game 1 in Denver onThursday night.

Bam Adebayoscored 12 points with 10 rebounds for Miami, which is the first No.8 seed to play for a championship since the 1999 New York Knicks.Top-seeded Denver has been waiting since sweeping the Los AngelesLakers on May 22.

Game 6 heroDerrick White scored 18 for Boston, which was hoping to become thefirst NBA team ever to advance after falling behind 0-3 in abest-of-seven series. Jaylen Brown scored 19 with eight reboundsbut went 1 for 9 from 3-point range.

JaysonTatum, who scored a Game 7 record 51 points against Philadelphia inthe conference semis, had 14 points with 11 rebounds after turninghis ankle on the first play of the game and limping through 42minutes.

The Celticsled by five points early before conceding a 14-4 run to end thefirst quarter and then giving up 16 of the first 22 points in thesecond. Boston cut the deficit to seven points late in the third,but Miami took a 76-66 lead at the break and scored the first sevenpoints of the fourth quarter to pull away.