Heat-Celtics ECF Game 7 reaction: 'It's time to BELIEVE in Jimmy Butler!'

Here's the thing. Game sevens are notorious for stress levels on a trillion, but that may not even accurately measure the anxiety the players and fans were feeling before and during game seven between the Heat and the Celtics because this one had the potential to be historic. Why? Well Miami was trying to become the first team trying to avoid, I should say, losing a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven and Boston trying to overcome a 3-0 deficit. First play of the game, Jason Tatum misses the shot, but that's not what's important. He sprains his left ankle right there and that clearly was an issue in this game. More on that coming up in a moment, but if Miami was going to win this game on the road, Jimmy Butler is going to have to be better than his 5-for-21 performance in game six. Gets out in front for the bucket there and then less than a minute to go in the quarter. Jimmy through traffic, off the glass, 18-6 run by Miami to end the quarter. They were up seven after one. We go to the second quarter, it's a 12-point lead. Caleb Martin, he had 21 points in game six. Here, corner wide open, he says, y'all better hang on tight because I'm gonna be balling like this for the rest of the night. He had 14 at the half. Heat up 15 here, turnover, Tatum the other way for the layup, but clearly still in pain. You can tell he's playing through it, but it's what you've got to do in a game seven. Buck 40 to go before the half. Butler, corner, bucket, Heat shot 8-of-16 from three in the first half. Celtics only 4-of-21, and Miami John had an 11-point lead at the break. You take a look at the numbers right there. Hot shooting, obviously, was the key in the first half. Heat picked up 24 points from beyond the arc. 50% shooting, Celtics struggled missing their first 12 shots from deep, finishing the half just 4-for-21 on those threes. All right, as you mentioned, Heat 11-point head start to start the third, and immediately they bulge that lead to 16. Heat have won 41 straight playoff games and leading by 10 or more. Derek White gets in the lane to the 16-point lead. We get it down to eight after the free throw. Might be a little hope, a little juice in the building, although a few minutes later, they're down 13. Off the miss, Jason Tatum gets that one to go. Boston 9-of-42 from three. They just plain shot it terrible. Jimmy Butler. Well, this has been his entire postseason. We need a big bucket. I got it. We're back up double digits. Heat, the lead's only 7. Here's Caleb Martin, 4-of-6 from deep in this one, and again, we're at 10. Next time down the floor, Martin. Where is he? Baseline waiting, turnaround so soft. Butler and Martin combined for 42 points through three quarters, the Heat by 10. So the Celtics made up a point. We go to the fourth. You know that thing where everybody makes a run? Yeah, he's not telling the truth. Fourth quarter, 10. Give me more. Martin finishes with 26 points. Look at Kevin, love enjoying things from the bench. It's a 15-point lead. We get a turnover. Dylan Brown, eight turnovers, most by a Celtic in a playoff game since Larry Bird in 1981. I mean, that's usually good company, but in this case, not great company in the slam. All up in there with two hands from Jimmy Butler. Bam out of bio, great pass. Duncan Robinson cutting, and then he's listening. He's taunting. Heat are up 18. Give me a little more here. Butler's going to finish off a 28-point night. On the parquet in Boston, Butler is going to get the Larry Bird trophy. Ouch, ouch, and more ouch as Boston just plain falls flat, 103-84. Heat going back to the final. Butler on pulling this thing out of the 03 fire. Sticking together, steady, believing, keeping that faith. My brother, appreciate you, baby. Come on. Keeping that faith, knowing that we're a really good team. We've been in this situation so many times. We got a double in a row. And now you're an eight seed. You went from the play-in. You're heading to the finals. What's been most rewarding about this postseason journey so far? That we're not an eight seed. We're a really good basketball team. We're really good players, and we just play together, and we play hard, which is a good sign for us. What happened last year, you know, obviously was on our mind, and it drove us this year. And that's what you always hope for competition, that it can drive you to a higher level. And I think that's what you saw in this series this year, to be able to have to overcome a lot of stuff. We have a bunch of guys that just love competition. Just drop us off anywhere and compete for it. Like, put ourselves out there open to all the criticism and everything. But hey, it's got to happen between these four lines. We don't care what the rest of the world is saying. We don't care who's criticizing who. You got to line up between these four lines, and let's figure this out. And I think that's the nature of this team that I think, you know, a lot of people respect. I'm just confident. I know the work that we all put into it, so I know what we're capable of. But nobody's satisfied. We haven't done anything. We don't play just to win the Eastern Conference. We play to win the whole thing. And there's this Miami with an all-time mopping in a seventh and deciding game, recording the largest road win on a conference finals game seven since the playoffs moved to the current format in 1984. 19 points Monday. Previous high was nine. Heat become just the second eighth seed to reach the NBA Finals since seeding began in 84. They joined the 99 Van Gundy Knicks. The Heatsmen would be the lowest seed to win an NBA title. Them are currently held by the 95 Rockets, who were a six. Miami making its seventh NBA Finals appearance since 2006 when they went for the very first time. This year's trip breaks a tie with the Warriors for the most over the last 18 seasons. Udonis Haslam has been on all those teams. Tatum on the ankle in the loss. Rest of the night swelled up and it was just frustrating that I was kind of like a shell of myself. It's tough to move. It was just frustrating especially you know on the first play. Just a terrible game. When my team needed me most like JT hurt his ankle. First play of the game you know you could see it like swelling up on him and he couldn't move out there. It was tough for him and you know my team turned to me to make plays and etc and I came up short. I failed. I expected to win today and move on and that's what my focus was on. That's what my focus has been on. Boston held to just 84 points on their home floor in game seven. That is the first time the Seas held below 90 points in a game all season. Boston shot an abysmal 39 percent from the floor just 21 percent from three in game seven equally troubling this postseason. The Celtics at home five and six. Hey Kendrick Perkins knows a thing or two about game sevens especially wearing that Celtics uniform. He joins us now here on SportsCenter and look KP like you could say that this series may be remembered more by the Celtics losing it than the Heat winning it but I want to start where credit is due and that is in Miami. How did they pull themselves off the deck after losing three games in a row and in a last second fashion in game six to go on the road in a hostile environment and win a do-or-die game? It's called leadership Eve. That's what it's called and when you have the best coach in basketball and their exposure and he talk about how they believe and you heard him at the game six talking about he wished they could play tomorrow or it could start right now he believed that and so you have an extension of him and Udonis Haslam that's sitting on that bench that's going to make sure those young guys stay focused and Jimmy Butler it's time for us to believe him when he comes to the podium and he talk about we're going to continue to believe we're going to continue to smile we're going to walk into this game in game seven we're going to go get this win when you have leadership to that caliber then the rest will follow and that's a prime example of what we saw tonight he's done it time and time again like you said we got to start believing Jimmy Butler when he speaks all right let's go to the other side Boston was favorite in this series and they come back and they lose they lose the first three games they win the next three they're on the verge of potentially making history as the first team to come back from an 0-3 deficit and a best of seven series but then they get blown out at home in that this is the Celtics and this is why I warn people before this series started that the Miami Heat had a chance and they will probably upset them they play horrible basketball on both ends of the floor and they lost their identity when you live by the three and die by the three this is what you get the last year team that we saw that went to the finals they hung their hats on the defensive side of things and when you have that much athletic athleticism like the Celtics do around the perimeter and the interior there's no way in hell that you shouldn't be a defensive minded team first all we kept seeing was them give up baskets and them continue to shoot bad three-point shots and that's what cost them the game tonight Kendrick Perkins as usual dropping dimes knowledge and all things appreciate it appreciate you my brother it feels good I mean I feel like you know that that type of style never leaves you I feel like you know I knew it was going to come out at some point it's just you know it's just a great feeling that it came out during a game seven on a roll like this but it just shows you that you know what I'm capable of and I just want to continue to stay locked in and you know I knew how they were going to guard me through this series and I just want to take advantage of that I just feel like I've built for these type of moments and I'm just going to continue to try to get better and feed off my and feed off you know guys like Jimmy and Bam and they lead the way and we're just trying to follow again Jimmy Butler was the MVP he didn't play great in every game but you had to pick up the slack sometimes and Caleb Martin was often that guy he stepped up a game seven going four for six from deep Miami hot from distance becoming just the fourth team to shoot at least three percent from three in a game seven on a minimum of 25 to 10.