White’s putback as time expires lifts Celtics past Heat, forces Game 7

MIAMI (AP)— The Boston Celtics were a tenth of a second away fromelimination. The Miami Heat were a tenth of a second from the NBAFinals.

DerrickWhite owned that final moment.

White scored on a putback astime expiredand the Boston Celtics moved to the brink ofthe greatest comeback in NBA playoffs history, holding off theMiami Heat 104-103 on Saturday night to force a Game 7 in theEastern Conference finals.

“DerrickWhite, like a flash of lightning, just came out of nowhere andsaved the day, man,” Boston’s Jaylen Brown said. “An incredibleplay.”

White knewit was good. Referees reviewed it, but it didn’t take long to givethe official word.

Elation forBoston. Devastation for Miami.

“Ball cameto me,” White said. “I made the shot.”

PerhapsBoston will call it The Shot.

DERRICK WHITE JUST SENT THE CELTICS TO GAMESEVEN ARE YOU KIDDING ME 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/CwWBN9FcKM

Whitebecame the second player in NBA history to hit a buzzer-beater withhis team trailing and facing elimination — Michael Jordan’s “TheShot” for Chicago against Cleveland in 1989 being the other.

“I was justhappy,” White said. “Season was on the line. We don’t want to gohome.”

JaysonTatum scored 31 points, Brown scored 26 and Marcus Smart added 21for the Celtics, who became only the fourth NBA team to erase a 3-0deficit in a best-of-seven series and force a deciding game. Theothers in that club — the 1951 New York Knicks in the NBA Finals,the 1994 Denver Nuggets in the second round and the 2003 PortlandTrail Blazers in the first round — all lost Game 7, all on theroad.

Boston,however, is going home for its shot at history. Game 7 is Mondaynight on the Celtics’ floor, a matchup that’ll decide who meets theWestern Conference champion Denver Nuggets in a title series thatwill start Thursday.

“It’s aseven-game series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “There’snothing better than Game 7s.”

JimmyButler made three free throws with 3.0 seconds left — the foul wasoriginally called with 2.1 seconds left; referees put 0.9 secondsback on after reviewing the play to see if it was a 3-point trythat Al Horford fouled him on — for a one-point Heat lead. Itcapped a Miami rally from 10 points down with less than 4 minutesremaining.

The Celticshad White inbound the ball on the game’s final possession, and hepassed to Smart — who missed a 3-pointer. But White sprinted fromthe inbound spot to the rim, the ball fell into his hands and hegot the lay-in away just before time ran out to extend Boston’sseason.

There hadbeen other buzzer-beaters from players whose teams were facing anelimination game, but before Saturday, only Jordan’s came with histeam trailing.

Celticscoach Joe Mazzulla was asked what went through his mind at thatmoment.

“Nothing,”Mazzulla said. “Game 7.”

Butlerscored 24 points and Caleb Martin had 21 for the Heat, who aretrying to pull off their own improbable trek to the title series bybeing only the second No. 8 seed to make the NBA Finals. They’venow lost as many games this week — three — as they had in theirfirst 14 playoff games this spring combined on the way to oustingNo. 1 Milwaukee, then No. 5 New York and taking what was supposedto be an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the second-seededCeltics.

“We’ve gotto go on the road and do something special,” Butler said. “Butwe’ve got a special group.”

The Celticshave now won five of their last six East finals games in Miami — astretch that includes a Game 7 over the Heat last season to reachthe NBA Finals.

That one,obviously, ended the Heat season. At least this time, Miami stillhas a chance.

“I don’tknow how we’re going to get this done, but we’re going to go outthere and get it done,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s what the next48 hours is about. There’s been nothing easy about this season forour group, and so we just have to do it the hard way.”

The Heatare the 151st team to grab a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven.All 150 of the previous clubs finished the job. But the Celticshave made very clear that they have other ideas, and Mazzullalisted a lot of reasons why.

“Faith.Love. Togetherness. Physicality. Belief. Hope.” Mazzulla said. “Allthose things combined. It starts with the locker room. Those guyshad a choice to make and they chose to believe in each other.”

TIP-INS

Celtics:The Celtics are 5-0 when facing elimination this season, 3-0 on theroad. They beat Philadelphia twice on their way to erasing a 3-2lead in the East finals, and now have tied this series. … MalcolmBrogdon (right forearm strain) was downgraded to out about an hourbefore game time. ... White scored 11 for the Celtics, and RobertWilliams III had 10.

Heat: GabeVincent scored 15, Duncan Robinson scored 13 and Bam Adebayo added11 for Miami. ... Diddy was at the game, as was former Heat guardGoran Dragic and Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk. … UnlessMiami wins Game 7 at Boston, it may have been the final home gameof Heat forward Udonis Haslem’s 20-year career. The Heat are613-297 in the 910 games in their home arena with Haslem on theroster; that doesn’t include the restart bubble’s home games in2020.

GAME 7HISTORY

The Celticsare 27-9 in Game 7s, winners of their last four — including one inMiami last season and one earlier this season, against Philadelphiain the East semifinals. They’re 1-1 against the Heat all-time insuch games (losing the 2012 East finals deciding game in Miami),and 22-5 at home in Game 7.

The Heatare 6-5 all-time in Game 7s, losing their last two (home vs. Bostonin 2022, at Toronto in 2016), and are 0-2 when facing such a gameon the road. Besides the Raptors game seven years ago, they lost aGame 7 at Atlanta in 2009.