Celtics 102-128 Heat Highlights, Game 3: Miami takes 3-0 lead, moves closer to NBA Finals

Miami Heat is 3-0 ahead and one step from making the NBA Finals. If Jimmy Butler had been the highlight for Heat so far in the series, it was Gabe Vincent today. He scored 29 points which included six three pointers. Butler and Martin gave 16 and 18 points, respectively.

The season is nearly over for the Celtics. No team has turned a 3-0 deficit. The way the side played today, you don’t give them much chance to make it to the fifth game. The Jays went missing today and combined for just 26 points.

That’s it for the night from us. We’ll be back with action from game four in a couple of days. Goodbye!

Kornet with a put in to get two more points for the Celtics.

Heat happy to take a shot clock violation on what will be their final possession of the game.

Pritchard with a three pointer.

Lowry makes a catch and shoot play from downtown.

Kornet makes two free throws.

Yurtseven and Jovic with their first points for the Heat.

Robinson with a three point shot from the left wing on the run.

Celtics get two more shots from the line.

Muscala with two free throws.

Duncan Robinson with three free throws.

Pritchard with a foul and count move but fails to convert the free throw.

Grant Williams and Duncan Robinson with three pointers to resume play.

Robinson with a three pointer! Heat have 16 made threes.

Celtics take a timeout.

VINCENT! He gets a dribble and follows it with a turn and shot. Another three.

Now Martin joins the three point shooting party.

Kornet with a rebound from a missed shot and a put in.

Vincent with a one-handed shot from a lay up. He draws a foul too and then hits the free throw.

Grant Williams from downtown. Back to back threes for Celtics.

Kornet with a three to cancel out Vincent’s shot.

Vincent with a three to resume after the timeout.

Hauser with a three pointer for Celtics.

Timeout called by Heat.

Vincent with a pull up shot over Kornet.

Smart knocks down two free throws.

Zeller with a put in bucket.

Kornet with a simple put in after a pass under the rim.

Pritchard with a three point play. Drives to the rim and draws contact on the shot.

Brown and Tatum have been kept on the bench for the final quarter. The night is over for the Celtics by the looks of it.

Miami outscores 32-17 in the third quarter. A 30-point advantage going into the final quarter. Celtics have dropped their shoulders. A listless performance from the No.2 seeds as they look set to go 0-3 down in the series. The final quarter coming up.

Butler with a long two over Robert Williams.

White knocks down a wide open three from the corner.

Zeller with a turn and shoot over Tatum.

Tatum breaks a series of missed shots with a dunk from a transition play.

Miami takes a timeout.

Zeller misses both the shots.

Zeller with a reverse lay up but is fouled on the attempt and will head to the line.

Robert Williams with an offensive board. He then puts in a simple shot to break Heat’s 10-point run.

Butler with two more free throws aftr a foul by Robert Williams.

Bam Adebayo hits two free throws to take the Heat lead to 31 points.

Butler sets a dime for Martin in the paint. Martin takes it on the run and lays it in.

Strus with another two points for Heat. That’s a 27 point lead for the home team and Boston calls another timeout.

Adebayo with a block on Tatum’s lay up.

Martin knocks down a jump shot at the other end.

Grant Williams with a floater from paint.

Adebayo knocks down both the shots.

Adebayo is denied on a dunk by Tatum but the refs see a foul on that block and Heat get two free throws.

Vincent with another three. He hits it on the run over Smart from the left wing. Adebayo doing the job with the screen on that play.

Tatum knocks down a free throw for a technical foul earlier. He then lays it in for another two points.

VINCENT! He knocks down a three in tranisition to make it a 13-2 run for Heat. The biggest lead of the night.

The Celtics call a timeout.

Adebayo with a dunk on an alley-oop.

No Horford with an offensive foul on Celtics’ possession.

Bam Adebayo with an offensive foul and the Heat concede a turnover.

The refs decide against a flagrant foul 1 on Smart and give it as a common foul.

Smart being investigated for hostile act. He hit Caleb Martin.

Strus with a three-pointer. Butler drives to the rim and makes the defence collapse on him. He is surrounded by three Celtics shirts as he opens the ball to Strus at the perimeter.

Brown with a shot off the board.

Butler with a foul and count move now. He takes a step back shot over White and draws contact too.

Vincent with a shot from close range.

Smart with some Playoff hustle. He gets a rebound and then fights for the ball. Wins it and then knocks a shot. A foul and count move. Knocks the free throw too.

Heat start the third quarter but concede a turnover as Vincent throws the ball out of bounds.

Boston with a 9-2 run in the closing minutes of the second quarter. Still, the biggest half-time deficit for the side in this year’s playoffs. Miami Heat have seen an all round effort from its players to get to the half-time lead. Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent lead the scoring for the side 21 points between them. Butler too got six in the end of the second period. The side is shooting at 57.5%.

Celtics found some momentum in the second quarter but they’ve still got a long way to go if they’ve to stop Heat from going 3-0 up.

Smart with a drive and floated shot over Vincent.

Butler with a three point play. He draws contact from Grant Williams. Makes the shot for the foul and count. Misses the free throw though.

Zeller witha denial!

Butler is double-teamed and he concedes a turnover. Grant Williams gets a board shot at the other end. 7-0 to Boston.

Grant Williams first gets a shot from close range following a drive. Derrick White then knocks down a three point shot.

Miami calls a timeout.

Robinson with a three point shot to get the lead to 22 points.

Brown with a drive from the perimter to the paint and a floater to get the point.

Butler with a shot off the board to get to seven points in the game.

Smart is given a technical foul.

Heat knock down the free throw.

Robert Williams with an offensive board and fires it in the net.

Butler knocks down two free throws.

Celtics concede a turnover. Smart side steps into Lowry’s path and the pair is down on the floor. The Celtics player is called for an offensive foul.

Robinson with a three! The Heat are running away with this.

Adebayo! A turn and dunk. He leaves Brown on the floor.

Smart is fouled by Lowry and he will head to the line to shoot FTs.

Knocks down only one.

Vincent gets another shot in. He is open at the perimeter and shoots over Smart.

The Celtics call a timeout.

BAM ADEBAYO! He dunks the ball in from a set up by Robinson.

Tatum collects a loose ball to put in the bucket.

Horford cancels out the Heat three with a shot from the corner.

Vincent. He fires in another three pointer.

Vincent with a drive into the paint and a pull up shot.

Robinson with another lay up.

Horford switches the play from the paint to the perimeter. Derrick White gets the ball and knocks down the three.

Duncan Robinson with a lay up to start the second quarter.

Miami has again been rewarded for taking shots. They’ve been shooting at over 61% efficiency in the first quarter. Boston, meanwhile, has been sloppy with its possessions and conceded too many turnovers.

The play now becomes a foul and count as Robert’s shot went in.

The free throw is missed by Robert.

The challenge is successful. Lowry is judged to have moved his body while Robert was in the air.

Lowry puts his body on the line. He gets in the restricted area and draws a charging foul from Robert Williams.

The Celtics have challenged the call.

Brown loses control on the dribble. The Heat set off on a counter attack which Martin ends with a dunk.

Martin! He cannot stop shooting. That’s his second three for the day.

Strus hits both the free throws.

Grant Wiliams chases a loose ball but he pushes Strus in process and the refs call him for a foul.

Kyle Lowry with his first points on the night.

Robert Williams takes an aerial ball, turns and finishes it.

Tatum and Adebayo have a collision. It appears that the Heat player has a knock on his head but he’s quick to get up on his feet. Good to resume.

Horford with a hook over Strus from close range.

Strus knocks down a three. The crowd is alive! A transition play at lightening pace by the Heat. Martin stops the ball from going out of bounds. He plays it to Butler who opens it to Strus at the arc.

Celtics take a timeout.

Bam Adebayo will shoot the first free throws of the game after a foul by Horford.

Hits only one shot.

Gabe Vincent! Butler picks the ball and drives to the rim. He sees bodies in front of him and dishes the ball out to the perimeter. Vincent is cash money from the shot.

Brown takes a pull up shot over Martin and finds the net. A long range shot.

Two floaters each from both teams and the scores remain level.

Caleb Martin with a corner three.

Heat resumes and Strus is too strong from a three.

Brown then loses the ball while attempting a lay up.

Butler guards Tatum on the arc and the Celtics player loses the handle. Heat get a turnover.

And we have the first timeout of the game by Heat.

Horford with a three! He is given space by Love and he uses that to pull up a jump shot.

Butler gets his first points from the mid range.

Brown with a fake, turn on his pivot and shot. He beat Vincent in the paint on that play.

Tatum with a dunk. He moved past Strus to get that shot.

Brown gets a shot off the glass with a lay up.

Adebayo with a drive to the rim. He starts from the post and lays the ball home.

Tatum with a three to get Boston started on the night.

Love again! He is wide open at the corner from a pass by Vincent. Knocks down the three.

Kevin Love from the paint. He turns and shoots over Smart.

Celtics win the first possession of the game.

We’re all set for the jump ball.

The Heat forward scored 25 points as his team took a 2-0 lead. He made a whopping 11 off 16 attempts including three 3-pointers.

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So far, the win-loss record for teams losing the first two games of a Playoffs series is 33-414. The odds are stacked against Boston to come back into the series but it is still not impossible.

Miami Heat has had Jimmy Butler hit crunch points. But even beyond Butler, there have been players who’ve scored important points. Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson have scored 45% of Miami’s points in this series.

Both the games in the Eastern Conference Finals have gone right down to the wire with Miami coming back to overturn a deficit.

• Heat 123-116 Celtics
• Heat 111-105 Cetics

Where will the Celtics vs Heat NBA Playoffs series be telecast on TV in India?

The Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat NBA Playoffs series will be telecast on Sports18, Sports18 HD and MTV in India.

Game 3 will be telecast on Monday, May 22, starting 06:00 AM IST.

Where to live stream the Celtics vs Heat NBA Playoff games?

The Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat NBA Playoffs series will be live streamed on JioCinema app.

The entire series can also be watched on NBA.com with an NBA League Pass.

Where will the Celtics vs Heat NBA Playoffs series be telecast on TV in the United States?

The Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat NBA Playoffs series will be telecast on TNT in the United States.

Where will the Celtics vs Heat NBA Playoffs series be telecast on TV in the Phillippines?

The Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat NBA Playoffs series will be telecast on TV5, One Sports and NBA TV Phillippines.

Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals is on Sunday night, with the eighth-seeded Heat leading 2-0 after stunning almost everyone but themselves by going into Boston and winning the first two games of the series — putting themselves in position to reclaim a conference title that the Celtics defeated them for last season.

“I’ve said it all year long,” said Butler, who is averaging 31.1 points in the postseason. “We are going to ride with one another until the wheels fall off.”