BOSTON – Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each scored 25 points as the Boston Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals by defeating the Miami Heat 118-84 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Boston will face the winner of the Cleveland-Orlando series. The Cavaliers lead 3-2 in Game 6 in Orlando on Friday night.
Brown also had 6 assists, and White hit 5 3-pointers, giving him 13 in his past two games — the most over two games in Celtics postseason history.
Sam Hauser added 17 points, and Jayson Tatum added 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. The top-seeded Celtics never trailed and led by as much as 35 points before eventually winning by 34 points, tying their third-largest win in playoff history.
Including the regular season and playoffs, the Celtics have won 11 games by 30 or more points this season, tied with the 1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers for the most in a single season in NBA history.
They also got a measure of revenge a year after the Heat beat them in Game 7 of the conference finals in Boston. The Celtics have won three games in the series without trailing, tied for the second most by any team in a series in the last 25 seasons.
Bam Adebayo scored 23 points and Tyler Herro had 15 for Miami, which exited the playoffs for the first time before the conference finals since 2021. The Heat struggled throughout, going 3 of 29 from 3-point range.
Boston played for the first time in the postseason without center Kristaps Porzingis after he strained his right calf in the Celtics' Game 4 win. His teammates closed the gaps, as the Celtics' lead reached 30 points in the first half.
Boston took advantage of a Heat team that was hitting the hardest in the series. Jaime Jaquez Jr. sat out after suffering a groin injury in Game 4. He was replaced in the lineup by Delon Wright, marking the Heat's 37th start of the season. Jaquez joins Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (neck), both of whom have been sidelined since the start of the series.
It created unique rotations for Miami, which included veteran Patty Mills scoring minutes for only the third time in the series.
Boston took advantage of the weaknesses in the Heat's defense, spreading them out and knocking down 8 3-pointers in the opening period. This helped the Celtics take an 18-point lead in the second quarter.
The highlight of the first 12 minutes came courtesy of White, who blasted Miami from long range with 8 3s in Game 4. He continued to attack early Wednesday, faking a 3-point attempt and then scoring an uncontested one-handed goal. .
White played to the home crowd next, holding his hand in front of his face as he retreated onto the court. After the Heat called a timeout, a fan near the Celtics bench could be seen gaslighting White on the sideline.
ESPN Statistics & Information and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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