“Heat extend NBA playoff series against Celtics with impressive comeback win”

In the play-off semifinals of the North American basketball professional league NBA, Miami Heat only needs two wins to advance to the finals. The former title winner also won the second match of the best-of-seven series at record-breaking champions Boston Celtics after an impressive comeback and 27 points from star Jimmy Butler 111-105.

In the next two matches, the team from Florida, with a 2-0 lead behind them, has home advantage from Sunday. Miami has been waiting for its fourth NBA triumph for ten years and was last in the final in 2020 (2: 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers).

As in the 123:116 opening win last Wednesday, also in Boston, Butler became the match winner for the guests. The guard, who has recovered from an ankle injury, took charge of the court early in the final quarter after his side were eleven points down. Butler, who had knocked out the New York Knicks and national team player Isaiah Hartenstein in the quarterfinals with nine points, played a key role in Miami’s decisive 20:9 run in the closing stages.

“We have a few dogs on our team and I love everything about them. We never give up and love to play together. We believe in ourselves very much and trust each other deeply,” Butler said after the end of the game.

In the camp of runners-up Boston, for whom 34 points from Jayson Tatum were not enough to equalize 1-1 in the series, there was great resentment at the playful lead. “In the end, it’s the details and the little things that count, because discipline and attitude count in this series. But in some phases of the game we weren’t a disciplined team,” coach Joe Mazzulla criticized his team. The coach explicitly attributed the slump in his players in the decisive phase to “mental reasons”.

The Vegas Golden Knights won the first game of the Western Conference Finals of the NHL Playoffs. The vanquishers of the Edmonton Oilers around national player Leon Draisaitl won 4: 3 after extra time on Friday evening (local time) against the Dallas Stars, who had previously prevailed against the Seattle Kraken of national goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer. Brett Howden scored the hosts’ decisive goal after 1:35 minutes of extra time. Las Vegas leads 1-0 in the best-of-seven series, and a team needs four wins to reach the final series for the Stanley Cup. Opponents there will be either the Florida Panthers or the Carolina Hurricanes.

Former NFL pro and actor Jim Brown is dead. Considered one of the greatest players in history, he was one of American football’s first superstars. According to US media, a family spokesman said Brown died Thursday night at the age of 87. Brown only played in the NFL from 1957 to 1965, during which time he set numerous records and was voted the 1965 Most Valuable Player of the Season. In 1964 he won the championship with the Cleveland Browns.