NBA playoff roundup: Celtics blow out Heat to advance as Doncic stars for Mavs
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each scored 25 points and the Boston Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals, beating the shorthanded Miami Heat 118-84 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Brown also had six assists and White hit five 3-pointers. Sam Hauser added 17 points and Jayson Tatum had 16 points and 12 rebounds. The top-seeded Celtics never trailed and led by 37 points. They also got a measure of revenge a year after the Heat routed them in Game 7 of the conference finals in Boston.
“It’s quite a history, back and forth. But it didn’t matter who it was,” Brown said. “We just had to get the job done.”
Bam Adebayo scored 23 points and Tyler Herro had 15 for Miami, which exited the playoffs for the first time since 2021 ahead of the conference finals. The Heat struggled throughout, going three of 29 from three-point range.
Boston will face the winner of the Cleveland-Orlando Series. The Cavaliers led 3-2 heading into Game 6 in Orlando on Friday night.
In Wednesday’s other game, Luka Doncic scored 20 of his 35 points in the second half and added 10 assists and seven rebounds, lifting Dallas to a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 5 and a 3-2 lead in their series pushed.
Maxi Kleber hit five 3-pointers and Kyrie Irving added 14 points for the Mavericks, who held the Clippers in check defensively and won decisively for the second time in the series in Los Angeles. Dallas was on the brink of their first playoff series victory since 2022 and only their third since winning the NBA title in 2011.
Doncic is playing with a sprained right knee that limited him at times in the series, but the Slovenian star clearly became more comfortable and dangerous as Game 5 progressed. He had 14 points in the third quarter as the Mavs extended their lead to 25 and eventually took an 89-69 lead in the fourth, where the Clippers never threatened to imitate Dallas’ rally from trailing by 31 points in Game. 4.
Doncic said he was dealing with a bug and a knee injury during the game, and blew his nose several times during timeouts.
Doncic said his illness made things “tough” and that his knee is “not really good.”
“But you talk about adrenaline in a play-off game,” he added. “Once you start, you want to do everything you can to help your team win. I just wanted to keep going.”
Game 6 is Friday night in Dallas. If necessary, Game 7 will be back in Los Angeles on Sunday.