The Celtics are left at the gates of heaven, the Heat will play the final against the Nuggets

Just one step from glory. This is how the Boston Celtics fell this morning, who lost the seventh game of the Eastern final against the Miami Heat (84-103), who will no longer be able to fight for the ring against the Denver Nuggets and who also missed a golden opportunity to have made history in the NBA.

150 times there had been a 0-3 in an NBA playoff and in the 150 times there was no comeback.

The Celtics seemed to have everything in their favor to end the 'curse' this year since they were playing the seventh game at home after having revived with three consecutive wins when they already seemed with a foot and a half in elimination.

But the anxiety, the mistake, the superb performance of the Heat and also the bad luck of the Celtics dashed the hopes of a 4-3 unprecedented in the history of the league.

In addition, the Celtics of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will not be able to 'avenge' their defeat last year in the NBA Finals, when they succumbed in the title series against Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors (4-2).

The TD Garden nightmare, with a sensational atmosphere tonight, began on the very first play of the game, when Tatum, their great leader and a specialist in excelling in 'seventh games', sprained his left ankle when he fell on the foot of Gabe Vincent.

Tatum continued on the court and ended up playing 42 minutes but throughout the night he was seen in obvious pain, very frustrated and uncomfortable and with many mobility and shooting problems.

With their star in a precarious situation, those in green gradually melted away against a Heat who smelled blood and who masterfully took the game to their home ground (few points, slow pace, dominance of defenses over attacks… ).

Nobody stepped up in place of Tatum, who finished the game with 14 points (5-of-13 shooting) and 11 rebounds.

The second swordsman of the Celtics was especially noted, a missing Jaylen Brown and with a very sad game: 19 points with 8 of 23 in basket attempts (including a ridiculous 1 of 9 in triples) and 8 turnovers.

Although above all, tonight for Boston's oblivion was forged in its terrifying triple percentage with a 9 of 42 throughout the evening (21.4%) after a chilling 0 of 10 in the first quarter.

Only 15 goals were scored by the locals in that first period and the situation did not improve in the second, in which they lost by 17 points against a very calm and focused Heat that did not stop growing and growing.

The Celtics' illusion of sealing their historic comeback with another epic performance against all the elements had its moment in the third quarter when Derrick White, the only one salvageable from the wreck, scored 13 points and left his team with just -7.

But the Heat did not lose their heads and little by little they melted down a Celtics without ideas and without gasoline, with their faces contorted and their spirits on the ground, and who threw in the towel in the last quarter (18-27).

After this very painful loss, Boston also joined the only three teams that had forced a 3-3 after losing a series 0-3 and that finally also ended up taking the knee in the seventh game.

As of today, these Celtics accompany the 1951 New York Knicks against the Rochester Royals, the 1994 Denver Nuggets against the Utah Jazz and the 2003 Portland Trail Blazers against the Dallas Mavericks.

Instead, the Miami Heat, the second team that reached the Finals in NBA history as the eighth conference team, signed a sweet 'revenge' against the Celtics, who just eliminated them last year in the Eastern final after seven games. .