MIAMI (AFP, REUTERS) - The Miami Heat poured it on in the fourth quarter to beat the Boston Celtics 125-113 on Sunday (Sept 27) and book a National Basketball Association Finals showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Heat, NBA champions in 2006, 2012 and 2013, reached the championship series for the sixth time in club history with a 4-2 overall victory over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA's quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida.
Bam Adebayo had a career-high 32 points and 14 rebounds, Tyler Herro came alive with 11 points in the fourth quarter in Game 6.
Jimmy Butler added 22 points, Herro had 19 and Andre Iguodala scored a season-high 15 as the Heat advanced to the Finals for the first time since 2014. Duncan Robinson also scored 15 and Goran Dragic 13.
Jaylen Brown had 26 points, Jayson Tatum 24 with a career-high 11 assists and Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker 20 apiece for the Celtics, who could not come all the way back from a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals begins on Wednesday.
The Heat erased a six-point deficit in the fourth when Herro nailed a three-pointer and added another bucket to tie the score at 96 with 7min 40sec remaining. Miami pulled ahead 104-102 with 5:31 left as Daniel Theis fouled out for Boston, Adebayo hitting one of two at the line.
That free throw kicked off a 13-0 run to put the game away for the Heat. Herro gave Miami the game's first double-digit lead at 112-102 with 3:31 to go, and the score was 116-102 before the Celtics snapped a nearly four-minute scoring drought. Boston got no closer than 10 down the stretch.
A 7-0 Celtics spurt late in the third quarter tied the score at 86.
Dragic's basket with 26 seconds left helped Miami lead 88-86 entering the fourth.
Tatum had 12 points in the second quarter after a scoreless first in which the Celtics trailed by as much as nine. His lay-up with 1:56 left gave Boston a 56-55 edge, but the Heat went back ahead on an Adebayo lay-up with 42.6 seconds remaining and led 62-60 at the break.
