Celtics basket at buzzer beats Heat, forces Game 7

One tenth of a second.

That’s how close the Heat was to completing a miraculous comeback and advancing to the NBA Finals.

Instead, the Heat allowed a Derrick White rebound and basket just before the buzzer to lift the Celtics past Miami 104-103 on Saturday, sending the Eastern Conference finals to a Game 7 on Monday in Boston.

The Celtics became only the fourth team in NBA history to tie a best-of-seven series at 3-3 after losing the first three games.

A furious 14-4 run, led by Jimmy Butler, put the Heat ahead by one after three free throws from Butler with three seconds left.

But after Marcus Smart’s three-pointer rimmed out, White got the rebound and hit the basket as time expired to give Boston the win and break the collective heart of a sellout crowd at Kaseya Center.

Boston had missed 11 consecutive shots from the field before that White game-winner.

“That’s the only place it could have bounced to hurt us,” Erik Spoelstra said. “Sometimes things don’t break your way. I don’t think there are any regrets on that. It’s just a shame. This is the way this season has been. It’s been one hell of a series. I don’t know how we’re going to get this done, but we’re going to go up there and get it done. There has been nothing easy for this group. We’ll have to do it the hard way. We wish we could tip off [Game 7] right now.”

Caleb Martin said: “We made enough winning plays to win that game. Just a hell of a bounce at the end. It looked like the ball was going in, and kind of fell into the hands of White. Good thing about it is we have a Game 7.”

Against a swarming Boston defense, Butler and Bam Adebayo combined for their worst offensive game of the year at the most inauspicious time, shooting a combined 9 for 37.

Butler overcame his struggles to score 15 of his 24 in the fourth quarter, repeatedly getting to the line to eat away at, and eventually, overcome a 10-point late Celtics’ lead.

But White ruined what would have been a storybook comeback win. The Celtics had missed 11 consecutive shots before White’s game-winner.

Butler was undaunted afterward. “We’re going to go in there and we’re going to win,” he said.

Boston shot just 6 for 21 in the fourth, allowing the Heat to rally, before failing to box out White on the rebound. Spoelstra made clear he did not blame Max Strus, who had been covering White when White inbounded the ball.

The Celtics can now become the first NBA team to do what 150 have tried and failed to do: climb out of an 0-3 hole to win a best-of-7 series.

The Heat got a bad three-point shooting night from Boston (7 for 35/20 percent) and that’s usually the situation where the Celtics are most vulnerable. In fact, that was Boston’s lowest three-point percentage all season.

But the Heat couldn’t capitalize for most of the night because Butler and Adebayo couldn’t do much of anything offensively, at least until Butler got untracked late. By early in the fourth quarter, Butler and Adebayo were a combined 6 for 32.

Butler finished with 24 points on 5-for-21 shooting, with 11 rebounds and eight assists. He hit 12 of 14 free throws, including eight in the fourth quarter.

“I told the guys in the locker-room if I [play] better, we’re not in this position,” Butler said, vowing he will play better Monday. “I just missed shots. Got to make them.

“I’m proud of the guys to never give up and give us a chance to win the game. It hasn’t been going our way a lot this year, so this is nothing new.”

Adebayo never got untracked offensively, closing with 11 points on 4-for-16 shooting.

Adebayo, who had 13 rebounds, said he must “keep shooting the shots I’m shooting. I’ve got confidence in myself like no other. It’s like a lid is on the rim. I’ve got to figure out how to make the basketball go in.”

Spoelstra shrugged off Butler’s and Adebayo’s offensive inefficiency. “I don’t give a damn what they shot,” Spoelstra said. “We might have won this thing whatever we shot.”

Miami’s final offensive numbers were highly unusual: 47 percent on three-pointers (14 of 30), but just 19 of 63 on two-pointers. Overall, the Heat shot just 35.5 percent (33 for 93) and missed six of 29 free throws but committed just five turnovers.

Meanwhile, Jayson Tatum scored 25 of his 31 in the first half — hitting all 15 of his free throws for the game — and Jaylen Brown added 26. Tatum shot just 1 for 9 in the second half. Smart scored 21 and White had 11, including the winning points.

After the Heat went ahead 83-82 less than four minutes into the fourth quarter — its first lead since the first quarter — Boston unleashed a 16-5 run to go up 98-88 with four minutes left.

The Heat then went to a zone, and it gave the Celtics trouble and opened the door for a Heat rally.

Butler kept the Heat in it with three free throws and a three-pointer that cut Boston’s lead to 100-96 with two minutes left. Butler made one of two free throws, but Robinson missed a three with 1:05 left, leaving the Celtics up three.

On the other end, Robinson fouled Brown on a questionable call, and Brown hit one of two. Then Butler drove for a basket, drew a foul, hit the free throw and cut the Celtics lead to 101-100 with 53 seconds left.

After another poor Celtics possession, Robinson had another great three-point look but missed it with 22 seconds left, leaving Boston’s lead at one.

Smart made one of two free throws with 16 seconds to go, and the Heat then opted not to call a timeout.

Butler dribbled into the corner, but Al Horford bailed him out with a foul with what appeared to be 2.1 seconds left. It was ruled on replay that Butler was attempting a three pointer - not a two-pointer - and he was rewarded three free throws. He calmly made all of them.

But during that replay, time was put back on the clock - from 2.1 seconds to 3 seconds. That decision was made by the NBA’s replay center in New Jersey, without explanation after the game.

Then White ruined what would have been one of the most memorable wins in Heat history.

“We got timely defensive stops, and Jimmy drew fouls,” Spoelstra said of that late 14-4 run.

Butler averaged 31.1 points on 52 percent shooting in the Heat’s first 14 playoff games, but just 19.7 points on 43 percent shooting in Games 4 and 5. And Game 6 was looking like his worst of the season before he fueled the late rally.

Tatum, White and others all did good work throttling Butler for three quarters.

Opponents — at least this one — have stopped going for Butler’s pump fakes, and he’s generally beginning his post-ups farther away from the basket. Several of his shots rimmed out, and White blocked one of his jumpers.

Adebayo opened 2 for 4, then shot made only 2 of his next 12.

Spoelstra replaced Kevin Love with Martin in the Heat’s starting lineup, and Martin rewarded that decision with another terrific effort: 14 points in the first half and 21 for the game, on 7-for-13 shooting, with a career-high 15 rebounds.

Gabe Vincent returned after missing a game with a sprained ankle and chipped in 15, though he missed 12 of 18 shots. Robinson scored 13, and Max Strus had 10.

Spoelstra opted against using Love, who had started since Game 3 of the first round, or Haywood Highsmith, who played well in Game 5.

The Heat went 9 for 40 in the paint through three quarters. Per TNT, that was the Heat’s worst shooting percentage in the paint since 2008 and the worst in an NBA game this season. But Miami was more effective in the paint in the fourth quarter, finishing 16 for 52.

Brown got the Celtics off to a quick start by sinking his first three shots, and the Celtics then seized on Adebayo’s short absence, outscoring Miami by seven points in Cody Zeller’s two minutes. Zeller didn’t play in the second half.

Boston led 34-29 after one, behind 10 from Brown and nine from Tatum, and despite 12 points and five boards from Martin.

Tatum then caught fire, scoring 14 of Boston’s 16 points in a run that pushed the Celtics’ lead to 52-41. With Martin scoring 14 in the first half and Vincent adding 11, the Heat closed the half on a 14-5 run, pulling to within 57-53 at the break.

That Miami was that close was somewhat remarkable, considering Tatum (25) and Brown (11) outscored Butler (nine) and Adebayo (five), 36-14, in the first half. Butler shot just 2 for 10 in the first half, Adebayo 2 for 6.

Brown went to the bench with his fourth foul 2:21 into the third, and the Heat was in the bonus — and shooting free throws — just 3 ½ minutes into the third. But the Heat couldn’t capitalize, and the Celtics reinserted Brown midway through the third quarter.

In the third quarter, Butler missed all five of his shots and Adebayo was 1 for 7 and the Celtics’ lead swelled to 13. But Tatum went scoreless in the third and Miami went to the fourth down only seven despite shooting 5 for 26 in the third.

Butler put the Heat up twice in the fourth, including with three seconds left, before White sent home the crowd in stunned silence.