Boston Celtics: 2 unsung studs from C’s Game 5 win over Miami
By Mark Nilon
A seesaw series through games one to four, the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat squared off in South Beach Wednesday night for an epic Game 5 with things tied up at two games apiece.
Things started off quite even for both clubs, as no lead extended past seven points through the first two quarters and it was the first time all series where the half-time score was separated by five or fewer points.
Then, the second half started–that’s when things started to look more like the previous outings in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals.
Though the C’s and Heat traded blows back and forth right out of the gates, by the time the third quarter closed Boston found itself pulling away, as they went on a 10-2 run over the final three minutes of the period and held a 69-58 edge heading into the fourth.
With this, it was obvious momentum was on their side and, as a result, they never relented from this point forward, as Ime Udoka pulled out his starters with just under two minutes remaining and went on to win the contest 93-80.
In turn, the shamrocks find themselves up 3-2 and heading back to TD Garden for a Friday night bout that could very well prove to be the closeout contest of this series and punch their ticket to the 2022 NBA Finals (just got literal chills when typing that).
Game 5 was a miraculous, all-around effort by the Boston Celtics that saw everyone play a part in their ultimate victory.
From Jayson Tatum‘s near triple-double (22 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists) and Jaylen Brown‘s scorched-earth shooting performance (25 points on 55.6 percent shooting from distance) to the transcendent defensive efforts of guys like Robert Williams III (who finished with 10 boards, three blocks, and a steal on the night), Wednesday’s exhibition saw a bevy of great performances and, because of this, we at HH would like to pinpoint 2, in particular, who we believe were the C’s unsung studs: