Celtics thrive on 3s, beat Heat 110-97 in Game 5 to extend East finals

BOSTON (AP) —Derrick White had 24 points, including six 3-pointers, and theBoston Celtics dominated the Miami Heat 110-97 on Thursday night inGame 5 to extend the Eastern Conference finals.

Marcus Smarthad 23 points and five steals. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brownfinished with 21 points apiece as the Celtics claimed their secondstraight win and trimmed Miami’s series lead to 3-2.

It keepsalive Boston’s hopes of becoming the first team in NBA history toovercome a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Teams previously in thatposition are 0-150 all-time.

Game 6 isSaturday in Miami.

A day afterthe Florida Panthers punched the franchise’s first ticket to theStanley Cup Finals since 1996, for the second straight game theHeat were denied a spot in the NBA Finals.

DuncanRobinson led the Heat with 18 points. Bam Adebayo added 16 pointsand eight rebounds. Jimmy Butler had 14 points, five rebounds andfive assists but sat out the final 9:47 of the game. Caleb Martinfinished with 14 points.

It wasButler’s lowest-scoring game of the playoffs. He had 16 points inGame 3, a blowout win by Miami.

Miami neverled and had 16 turnovers.

Bostonentered the day just 4-5 at TD Garden this postseason. But with araucous home crowd behind them, the Celtics thrived on theirenergy.

They dove forloose balls, outfought Miami for rebounds and found each other forlayups and dunks in transition as they built as much as 20 pointsin the first half.

The Heat cutinto it, but Boston kept knocking down 3s and grew its edge as highas 96-72 in the fourth quarter.

Boston’s fansreignited a “Beat the Heat!” chant that hadn’t been prevalent sinceGame 1.

The Heatstarted Kyle Lowry at point guard after Gabe Vincent was ruled outwith a sprained left ankle earlier in the day. It was Lowry’s firststart since Feb. 2.

Vincent, theHeat’s third-leading scorer this postseason, got hurt late inMiami’s Game 4 loss when he landed awkwardly while trying to save aloose ball near the Heat bench.

His presencewas missed as Miami struggled early on the offensive end, swarmedby a Celtics’ defense that forced the Heat into 10 first-halfturnovers that led to 17 Boston points. Lowry played 31 minutes,scored five points and finished with four turnovers.

TIP-INS

Heat: Wereoutscored 13-0 in second-half points in the opening 24 minutes.

Celtics: AlHorford added six points and 11 rebounds. … The Celtics took a61-44 edge into halftime. … Boston’s first turnover of the gamedidn’t come until the 8:16 mark of the second quarter.

FASTSTART

The Celticsgot the fast start they had hoped for in front of their homecrowd.

Smartstripped Adebayo on Miami’s opening possession, igniting a fastbreak and layup on the other end by Tatum.

Then, withthe game tied at 4, Tatum got free in the lane for a monstroustwo-handed dunk. He hung on the rim afterward and continued hiscelebration when he landed, leading to a technical foul.

It didn’tstop the Celtics’ momentum, as their first-quarter lead grew ashigh as 23-7. Boston ended the period with a 35-20 lead, punctuatedby a 3-pointer by White at the buzzer.

Tatum had 12points in the opening 12 minutes, with the Celtics outscoring theHeat 21-6 from beyond the arc. Boston hit 7 of its 12 attempts.

VIP WATCH

Celtics Hallof Famer Paul Pierce, NCAA president Charlie Baker and New EnglandPatriots Matt Slater and Devin McCourty were among severalcelebrities in the Garden.