Celtics reach NBA Finals, hold off Heat 100-96 in Game 7

MIAMI (AP) — Not this time. After being thwarted on the doorstep of the NBA Finals three other times in the previous five seasons, the Boston Celtics have broken through.

The beasts of the East, again.

And now a chance at an NBA title awaits.

Eastern Conference finals MVP Jayson Tatum led the way with 26 points, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart each added 24 and the Celtics beat the Miami Heat 100-96 on Sunday night to earn a berth in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

“This is amazing,” Smart said. “We finally got over the hump.”

It was Boston’s first Game 7 win on another team’s home floor since topping Milwaukee for the 1974 NBA title; technically, the Celtics were the “road” team when they beat Toronto in a Game 7 two years ago at the restart bubble, but that was at Walt Disney World.

Tatum — wearing a purple-and-gold armband bearing the number “24” of Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, his favorite player — had lost two East finals in his young career. Brown and Smart were part of Boston’s East finals losses in 2017, 2018 and 2020. And this one was slipping away, a frantic Miami run in the final moments casting what looked like a sure-fire Celtics win into serious doubt.

But they would hold on. Jimmy Butler — brilliant again for Miami — missed what would have been a go-ahead 3-pointer with about 17 seconds left, and the Celtics never trailed.

On to San Francisco.

“To get over the hump with this group, it means everything,” Tatum said.

Butler, who willed Miami into Game 7 by scoring 47 points on Friday in Boston, led the Heat with 35 points in what became their season finale. Bam Adebayo added 25 for the Heat, who were down 11 with under 3 minutes to go before trying one last rally.

An 9-0...