BOSTON — When things have gone poorly for the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, it has been when they’ve lost focus and allowed Miami to speed them up and turn them over, leading to fast-break points — the one consistent way the Heat have scored in this series.
That was the formula Miami used to fuel its victories in Games 1 and 3. And so, heading into Game 4, Boston knew that in order to even this series at two wins apiece, it would have to avoid falling into those same bad habits once again.
Mission accomplished.
The Celtics were utterly dominant at both ends from start to finish on Monday night. Boston scored the first eight points and never looked back, cruising to a wire-to-wire 102-82 victory in front of a sellout crowd at TD Garden to send this series back to the shores of Biscayne Bay for Game 5 on Wednesday, with both teams two wins away from a trip to the NBA Finals.
“Urgency,” said Jayson Tatum, who led all scorers with 31 points, when asked to describe Boston’s mindset entering Game 4. “That was a focal point coming into this game, to just have a sense of urgency on both ends of the floor, from start to finish. Really starting the game better, obviously, than we did last game. That’s something that we talked about and something that we executed tonight.”
In a series that has seen each game swing wildly from one direction to the other, it took about 10 seconds to realize Game 4 would follow a similar pattern. Boston immediately jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Miami scored a single point; and the Celtics eventually took an 18-1 lead before the Heat finally made their first field goal with 3:22 remaining in the first quarter when Victor Oladipo buried a 3-pointer.
By then, Miami had missed 14 consecutive shots to open the game, setting a tone for all that was to come over the final 40 minutes. The Heat simply never got out of first gear, as Boston — even without the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the…
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