The Celtics formally secured their place within the 2025 NBA playoffs Friday evening with a win over the Miami Warmth.
Jrue Vacation scored 25 factors — his highest regular-season complete in a Celtics uniform — on environment friendly 10-of-15 taking pictures as Boston gained 103-91 on the Kaseya Middle.
Jayson Tatum completed with a game-high 28 factors, offsetting his 5 turnovers, and Derrick White (18 factors, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, two steals) fueled a fourth-quarter surge that turned a good recreation into a cushty victory.
The Celtics have been lacking two starters in Kristaps Porzingis, who missed his eighth straight recreation with an sickness, and Jaylen Brown, who sat out with a knee harm on the primary evening of a back-to-back. Boston will go to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday evening.
The win, coupled with Atlanta’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, clinched a playoff spot for the defending champion Celtics, extending their streak of consecutive postseason appearances to 11. They’ll nearly actually enter because the No. 2 seed within the Japanese Convention, as they’re unlikely to the soar first-place Cleveland Cavaliers or fall behind the third-place New York Knicks with 15 video games remaining.
The Celtics hit their first 4 3-pointers and first 5 area targets to open up an early double-digit lead. The driving force of that opening surge: Vacation, who accounted for 4 of Boston’s first six made baskets after scuffling in Wednesday’s dwelling loss to Oklahoma Metropolis (4-for-10; 1-for-7 from three). Nonetheless sporting a solid on his injured proper pinky finger, the veteran guard scored extra factors within the first 5 minutes (10) than he had in 9 of his earlier 11 full video games.
“I needed to simply keep aggressive,” Vacation instructed NBC Sports activities Boston sideline reporter Abby Chin. “These first three felt good, so after that, I simply needed to see extra go in.”
Vacation has been coping with a mallet finger harm that sidelined him for 4 video games earlier this month.
“I’m doing the perfect I can,” he instructed Chin. “Tonight was a great day. Typically after I catch, it feels bizarre, however there’s no excuses out right here. They don’t care that my finger’s damaged or I’ve mallet finger, so I’m simply making an attempt to return out right here each recreation and focus in and attempt to lock in.”
Payton Pritchard (11 factors, three steals) additionally chipped in a 3 and a well-worked post-up — slithering previous Miami’s Davion Mitchell for a step-through layup — as Boston’s lead swelled to 14 factors. Nevertheless it didn’t take the Warmth lengthy to erase it. Led by Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins, they ripped off a 28-12 run to take a 39-37 lead halfway by the second quarter.
Vacation halted Miami’s momentum with back-to-back threes — each coming off offensive rebounds by White and Al Horford — however the Celtics made only one area purpose over the ultimate 4 minutes of the primary half and entered halftime tied at 50-50.
The same sample performed out to begin the second half. Vacation rapidly hit his fifth 3-pointer of the evening, however no different Celtic made a shot from the sector till the 7:13 mark of the third quarter. Throughout that drought, Tatum dedicated three turnovers. He ended it with a straightaway three, although, and was far more efficient because the quarter progressed.
Vacation scored 9 factors within the third, following up his early three with two layups and a jumper within the lane. He additionally assisted on back-to-back threes by Sam Hauser and Pritchard, the latter of which put Boston forward 73-72. Vacation then ceded the ground to Tatum, who closed the quarter with a 3, a steal and a stepback elbow jumper over Wiggins.
The Celtics fell behind once more early within the fourth quarter. That’s when White, who’d gone 0-for-6 from past the arc to that time, took over. Throughout one game-changing sequence, he hit two threes, discovered Luke Kornet inside for an open layup, drew a foul on an offensive rebound and compelled Wiggins right into a touring violation by rejecting his shot on the rim.
That succession of clutch performs helped Boston take an 88-79 with Tatum and Vacation on the bench — and survive the almost five-minute scoring drought that ensued. White hit one other three with just below 4 minutes remaining to thrust back a short Miami rally, and the Celtics’ protection held the Warmth to simply 14 fourth-quarter factors.
Fourth-string heart Neemias Queta, who noticed a bigger position with Porzingis out, performed your entire fourth quarter, registering seven rebounds and one block. Boston outscored Miami by 9 factors over his 23 complete minutes.
“I assumed (the protection) was fairly good all through a lot of the recreation,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla instructed reporters. “… I felt like within the first half, we simply gave them too many transition fouls. We had, like, 5 transition fouls that have been in a position to preserve them in it. Then I assumed some guys hit some photographs. However I assumed we caught with it. Within the fourth quarter, we have been clearly in a position to dominate the paint with our rebounding and did an important job in our coverages. So we positively took it to a different stage.”
Tatum supplied the dagger by drilling a nook three with 57 seconds remaining.
The Warmth are a doable first-round playoff opponent for the Celtics, as they at present sit ninth within the Japanese Convention. Because the anticipated No. 2 seed, Boston probably will play the winner of the 7 vs. 8 play-in recreation, which, within the present standings, would pit the Hawks in opposition to the Magic. Miami is inside two video games of Orlando however has misplaced six straight.
Boston’s remaining schedule is stocked with lottery-bound opponents, starting Saturday in opposition to Brooklyn. Porzingis’ availability will likely be a storyline to look at coming into that recreation. Although the middle didn’t play in opposition to the Warmth, he did journey with the group to Miami and take part in morning shootaround, suggesting he’s nearing a return from what he known as a “viral sickness” that’s sidelined him since Feb. 26.
Off the rim
Kornet tried his first true 3-pointer of the season within the win, lacking from the proper nook in the course of the second quarter. The backup heart’s solely earlier 3-point try was an end-of-quarter heave, coincidentally additionally in opposition to Miami on Feb. 10. The 7-footer averaged greater than eight threes per 36 minutes in his first two NBA seasons, however he’s nearly completely eradicated that facet of his recreation. … The 76ers added one more ex-Celtic to their injury-ravaged roster, signing ahead Oshae Brissett to a 10-day contract. Brissett, who gained a title with Boston final season and had been enjoying for Brooklyn’s G League group, joins fellow Celtics alums Guerschon Yabusele and Lonnie Walker IV in Philadelphia.
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