There was no “shocking upset” like last season. The Boston Celtics, the overwhelming “No. 1” team in the regular season, swept the Miami Heat to advance to the first round of the playoffs (PO) in seven games.
Boston defeated the Heat 118-84 in Game 5 of the 2023-2024 National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference First Round PO at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on February 2. With the win, Boston improves to 4-1 in the best-of-seven series and advances to the Eastern Conference PO Semifinals. They will face the winner of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Orlando Magic.
Boston finished the regular season with a dominant 64-18 record and a .780 winning percentage, good for first place in the NBA. They are a whopping 14 games behind the second-place New York Knicks (50-32) in the Eastern Conference.
Boston was a strong favorite to win the title this season, but it was a bit of an upset that their first-round opponent happened to be Miami. Boston reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season, but suffered the “upset” of losing to the Heat, who advanced to the No. 8 seed through the play-in tournament.
Miami lost guard Terry Rozier to a neck injury near the end of the regular season, and then their “ace” Jimmy Butler to a knee injury during the play-in tournament, but they still managed to torment Boston, including a Game 2 victory.
But this season, Boston was a different team than last season. Coming home after sweeping Games 3 and 4 on the road, the Celtics jumped out to a 41-23 lead in the first quarter, led by Derrick White, who scored 15 points, including 스포츠토토 three 3-pointers, in the first quarter alone. In the second quarter, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum added to the lead, extending it to 22 points, 68-46, to close out the first half, and the Celtics continued to build on their lead in the second half and cruised to an easy victory.
Brown (25 points) and White (25 points) combined for 50 points for Boston, which also got a 16-point, 12-rebound “double-double” performance from Tatum. Miami was led by Bam Adebayo’s 23 points.