Tatum sleeps off poor game, then puts Heat to bed

BOSTON • Jayson Tatum knew he needed to step up on Monday night after delivering a clunker performance two nights earlier.

The Celtics forward came out firing and scored more points in the opening quarter of Game 4 of the National Basketball Association's Eastern Conference Finals than the entire previous contest.

His impressive turnaround helped Boston dominate from the outset to notch a 102-82 victory over the visiting Miami Heat.

He recorded 31 points, eight rebounds and five assists as the Celtics tied the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

"We just came back to redeem ourselves," Tatum said, of bouncing back from their 109-103 loss in Game 3. "We knew this was a game we really needed... After the last game we were ready to play."

On Saturday, he tallied just 10 points on three-of-14 shooting and committed six turnovers. He had 12 points in the first quarter on Monday to set the tone for his third effort of at least 27 in the series.

"You feel like you let your teammates down," Tatum added of his Game 3 performance.

"I think I do a really good job of sleeping it off regardless if I had 10 points or 46 points. I'm a big believer that you can't change what happened. I didn't doubt myself."

Payton Pritchard scored 14 points while Derrick White had 13 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals for Boston while starting in place of injured point guard Marcus Smart.

Robert Williams III added 12 points and nine rebounds and Jaylen Brown had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics. Al Horford contributed 13 rebounds and four blocked shots to go with five points.

None of Miami's starting line-up made double figures, making a paltry 18 points in total.

The Heat, who missed their first 14 shots while digging an 18-1 deficit, had to depend on three reserves - Victor Oladipo scored 23 points, Duncan Robinson tallied 14 and Caleb Martin added 12.

Jimmy Butler had just six points on three-of-14 shooting and struggled during 27 minutes of action. He departed after the first half of Game 3 due to right knee inflammation but said the soreness was not the reason for his shaky outing.

Bam Adebayo scored only nine points for the Heat after putting up 31 in Game 3.

"Nobody scored in double figures among their starters. We obviously set the tone right there," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said.

"We have a prideful team and one of the best defensive teams in the league. We came out in the right mindset."

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team had never been able to recover from a poor start.

"They came out and jumped on us," he said. "I think more than anything, our offence hurt us at the beginning. We just weren't purposeful. But we're not making any excuses. They outplayed us tonight, for sure. We never could get any kind of a grip on the game."

But he insisted that his team would mount a response in Game 5 in Miami tonight.

"This is part of the play-offs. There's a lot of extreme highs and extreme lows, and a lot of emotion. You just have to stay the course and stay together."

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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