Boston Celtics have NBA Playoff history against them despite 20-year first

28 May 2023 , 11:47

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Derrick White scored a buzzer-beating bucket for the Boston Celtics against the Miami Heat (Image: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

The Boston Celtics made NBA history with their Game Six win over the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday.

Derrick White scored a buzzer-beating bucket to help secure a 104-103 win over the Heat to level the series a 3-3. A Game Seven will be needed to decide the winner, which takes place on Monday at the TD Garden in Boston.

Jayson Tatum led the scoring for the Celtics with 31 points as well as 12 rebounds and five assists. Jaylen Brown also played a key role in the win, with 26 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

Jimmy Butler scored 24 points but could not prevent his team from losing Game Six. He made three free throws with just three seconds left on the clock to give the Heat a one point lead, only for it to be wiped out by White’s bucket.

White made the bucket with 0.2 seconds left on the clock when he made the shot. The play was reviewed by the referees but it didn’t take long for the points, and the Celtics win, to be confirmed.

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In doing so, White became the first player in NBA history to score a buzzer-beating bucket with his team facing elimination if he missed since 1984. The last player to do that was Michael Jordan for the Chicago Bulls against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Celtics have also made history themselves after becoming the first team since the 2003 Portland Trail Blazers to level a series at 3-3 after trailing 3-0 after Game Three. They are only the fourth team in history to achieve that feat, and join the 1994 Denver Nuggets and the 1951 New York Knicks.

Jayson Tatum scored 31 points in the Game Six win for the Boston Celtics against the Miami Heat (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

However, despite the Celtics setting up a Game Seven, the history is against them when it comes to the series decider. The aforementioned Blazers, Nuggets and Knicks teams, despite setting up a Game Seven, would all go on to lose even after forcing a final game.

Should the Celtics beat the Heat in Game Seven on Monday, they would become the only team in NBA history to win a playoff series after trailing 3-0. Home advantage will be on their side, though, with the game taking place at the TD Garden in Boston.

That being said, the Celtics have now won their last five elimination games on the road. In this series against the Heat, only one of their wins have come at home with the Celtics losing the other two.

If you go back to the East Conference semi-finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, which the Celtics also won in Game Seven, they had a similar record. In their four home games only two of them were wins, which makes the series decider against the Heat even more uncertain in terms of what the outcome could be.

Mark Wakefield