Jimmy Butler scored 41 points (17 alone in the third) and the Miami Heat beat the Marcus Smart and Al Horford-less Boston Celtics 118-107 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night. Jayson Tatum scored 29 points and Jaylen Brown added 24 for Boston. Game 2 is on Thursday.
After a heartbreaking loss to the Miami Heat, Boston point guard Payton Pritchard (18 points) talked about his fellow teammate Marcus Smart’s speech to the Celtics: “Just have heart. He was telling us to compete and get after it. We were kind of playing soft for a little bit.”
