The Miami Heat are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014 as Bam Adebayo saved the biggest performance of his life in Game 6 to win the series 4-2 and be crowned the Eastern Conference champions.
The All-Star Adebayo delivered an epic postseason masterclass with a career-high 32 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes as the Heat finished off the Boston Celtics 125-113 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Heat won the series 4-2 — and now face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers for the title.
Tyler Herro scored 19 points, Duncan Robinson and Andre Iguodala each had 15 and Goran Dragic added 13 for the Heat.
The Heat also went 10-for-20 on short midrange shots and 5-for-10 on long 2s.
Celtics got 26 points from Jaylen Brown on 10-for-17 shooting, and 24 points and 11 assists from Jayson Tatum. The Celtics went 2-for-14 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter, though, unable to maintain the rhythm they had for much of the game against Miami’s defense. Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker each scored 20 points for Boston — who fell in the East Finals for the third time in the last four seasons.
“Bam is one of the great competitors already in this association.”
“He’s going to become one of the great winners in the history just because he’s so competitive. He moves the needle in every single day. You can’t put an analytic to his game and that’s probably why he was overlooked in college. He competes every single possession. He’s really going into a leadership role. Way beyond his years. His offensive game is just growing daily”, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
The Heat, who came into the bubble postseason as a five seed, now have a chance to become one of the most unlikely championship winners in recent history and are also the only NBA franchise with six Finals appearances in the last 15 years. They’re seeking their fourth title and first since 2013.
Game 1 of the final series is on Wednesday night. If the favourites, Lakers maintain the same intensity they played with in the previous three rounds, then this could be too hot to handle for the Heat.
LeBron James aims to win his first NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers. He has won 3 titles in his glorious career and 2 of them have come with the team he meets in the NBA Finals.
LeBron is playing in his 10th NBA Finals and is four wins away from his fourth title, which he’d win for a third franchise. James is eager to accomplish that rare achievement and knows where it’ll place him in the pecking order of all-time great NBA legends.
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