The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat are going the distance in the Eastern Conference Finals. Sunday night's Game 7 will determine who moves on to the NBA finals. For the Celtics, the fact that there is a Game 7 angers them. There is plenty of blame to go around for such a bad performance in the biggest game of the season.
The Celtics are on the verge of losing their fourth conference finals in six years, with their most recent loss coming to the Heat in the 2019-20 season. Game 7 will be anyone's contest but the C's have to make sure they control it and bring nothing short of their A-game.
Boston Celtics Game 7 predictions
3. Jaylen Brown leads all scorers
Jimmy Butler seems destined for a Game 7 masterpiece after doing his best impression of LeBron James in Game 6 in Boston. He should have a strong game but the Celtics will come ready to play. Jayson Tatum will be the one to lead them but that may not necessarily come in the scoring column.
Jaylen Brown has shown the ability to go on scoring streaks with his shooting and explosive finishing. The Celtics will need that more than ever and should look to make sure he gets going. He can be hard to stop when he is.
With Brown's tendencies leaning way more towards scoring than that of Butler and Tatum, who are among the best playmakers on their teams, Brown can be the one putting up the points thanks to the attention Tatum gets and his ability to find teammates.
With Tatum's playmaking abilities, it will be up to Brown to take advantage of them by finding openings and hitting the shot attempts he gets. If he gets going, he could finally help the Celtics get over the Eastern Conference hump.
2. Derrick White shines again
After a miserably disappointing Game 6 defeat, the only player Celtics fans aren't mad at is Derrick White. He came to play in Game 6, making big shot after big shot while coming up huge on defense, too. With 22 points on 7-14 shooting, five assists and three steals in 33 minutes, he carried the C's in the fourth quarter.
White will probably not score 20 points again but he can still be a huge reason why the Celtics move on. His defense and smarts make him a pest for the Heat. His shooting has been inconsistent but he still can penetrate the defense, which should open up looks for teammates.
White is the X-factor for the Celtics in the win-or-go-home contest. With so many ways to impact the game, Miami will have to figure out how to minimize him.
1. Celtics win
The Celtics looked bad for a massive portion of Game 6 and still had themselves a tie game with two minutes left. In Game 7, with the sense of urgency higher than ever, the Celtics will come out of the gates firing and come out on top. They have had no problems winning on the road and should be able to come out on top in Miami.
Boston showed its resiliency in the previous round against the Milwaukee Bucks. They came back from a 3-2 deficit to advance to the conference finals against the (injury-riddled) reigning champions. The Celtics' inconsistency is baffling but when they are on their game, it becomes a Herculean task to beat them.
The Heat are certainly no pushover. Butler is a handful himself and the team around him is scrappy. Tyler Herro returning to action would make them even better. However, the Celtics have the talent and defensive identity to take the series and advance to their first NBA Finals since 2010.
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