Adebayo back with a Bam as heat lead

BOSTON • The Miami Heat's Bam Adebayo was missing in action in the first two games of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference Finals.

A bit of soul-searching and an upgrade in aggressiveness made a major difference in Game 3 as the centre played one of the best games of his five-year career, repeatedly making demonstrative plays indicative of his first name.

He exploded with 31 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals on Saturday to lead the Heat to a 109-103 victory over the hosts Boston Celtics to give his team a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series.

"I had to pick up my weight," he said. "These last couple of games, my team was depending on me and I didn't show up. I took it upon myself to lock in and get the win."

Adebayo made 15 of 22 field-goal attempts after taking just 10 total shots over the first two games and scoring a combined 16.

"He's a winning player," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "He really is the heart and soul of our group. You can count on him all the time. He doesn't get caught up in all the noise. He's just out there competing and playing winning basketball, doing it on both ends."

Adebayo's stellar performance was much-needed with teammate Jimmy Butler, who had eight points, missing the second half due to right knee inflammation.

But the Heat received a boost after Kyle Lowry returned from a hamstring injury - he had been out since Game 4 of their semi-finals against the Philadelphia 76ers.

"We found a way," said the guard, who recorded 11 points, six assists and four steals.

"Something about this team is that we have guys that are just hard workers."

Jaylen Brown set a personal play-off high with 40 points and also had nine rebounds for Boston, but they were not enough to overcome the 23 turnovers committed by his team and a poor defensive display that saw the Heat claim 19 steals.

Al Horford added 20 points and 14 rebounds but Jayson Tatum, the team's best player, had just 10 points on three-of-14 shooting while making six turnovers.

"Unacceptable. I've got to play better," the All-Star forward said.

"I feel like I left the guys hanging tonight. That's on me."

The Celtics never led on Saturday and trailed by as many as 26 points early in the second quarter.

"We didn't match (their physicality) from the start," Boston rookie coach Ime Udoka said.

"We got into complaining and let it take us out of our game. It's disappointing to come out that flat in a Conference Finals game."

Still, the Celtics had a chance to post a comeback victory before the Heat held them off down the stretch.

Miami led by 13 with 6min 30sec left before Boston responded with 12 consecutive points.

Brown scored 10 of them, including a three-pointer that cut the Heat's lead to 93-92 with 2:40 to play, before Miami raised their level, with the Celtics unable to get closer than six the rest of the way.

On their lacklustre performance, Brown said: "We started out flat. Seemed like we were looking around too much instead of playing the game. We didn't match their intensity out of the gate."

Game 4 will again be held in Boston today.

REUTERS

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