Boston will take on the Golden State Warriors in hopes of winning its first championship since 2008.
The Celtics led by as many as 17 points in the contest before Miami cut the lead to two with under a minute to play. Crucial Heat misses down the stretch helped Boston hold on.
"Credit to our guys for bouncing back, keeping our composure, and finding a way to win it," Boston head coach Ime Udoka said after the victory.
Jayson Tatum led the way for the winning side with 26 points, while Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart scored 24 apiece. Grant Williams was the only other Celtic to reach double figures with 11 points of his own.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler dropped a game-high 35 points while playing all 48 minutes in the contest. He and Bam Adebayo (25 points) accounted for 60 of his team's 96 total points.
Despite Butler's brilliance, he squandered an opportunity to pull off a miraculous late-game comeback by falling short on a transition 3-pointer that would have given Miami the lead with 16 seconds remaining. He finished just 1-of-4 from beyond the arc.
"My thought process was: Go for the win," Butler said postgame. "My teammates like the shot that I took, so I'm living with it."
"That was the right look," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of his star's shot selection. "When it left his hand, I thought it was going down."
Missed jumpers were a theme for the Heat, who shot just 6-for-30 from deep, tied for their second-worst percentage all season. Each of Miami's three worst 3-point shooting performances this season came in the playoffs.
On the other side, Boston will have four days to regroup before taking on the Warriors after Brown, Tatum, Smart, and Al Horford all topped 40 minutes in Game 7.
The full schedule for the NBA Finals is as follows:
| DATE | AWAY | HOME | TIME (ET) | TV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | June 2 | Boston | Golden State | 9 p.m. | ABC/TSN |
| 2 | June 5 | Boston | Golden State | 8 p.m. | ABC/SN |
| 3 | June 8 | Golden State | Boston | 9 p.m. | ABC/TSN |
| 4 | June 10 | Golden State | Boston | 9 p.m. | ABC/TSN |
| 5* | June 13 | Boston | Golden State | 9 p.m. | ABC/SN |
| 6* | June 16 | Golden State | Boston | 9 p.m. | ABC/SN |
| 7* | June 19 | Boston | Golden State | 8 p.m. | ABC/TSN |