Celtics trounce Heat in Game 5 of Eastern Conference finals: How Boston’s peak

BOSTON — From a series sweep to a serious series, the Boston Celtics are transforming the Eastern Conference finals.

They’re still in a big hole, but they won again easily Thursday, 110-97, in Game 5 over the Miami Heat, with four of their starters scoring at least 20 points, and are now two wins from becoming the first team in NBA history to win a series after trailing, 3-0.

Game 6 is at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Miami. The Celtics have won the last two games by a combined 30 points. Boston never trailed Thursday and led by as many as 24 — it was a 15-point game after the first quarter.

“It just says that our backs are against the wall and we’re sticking together and we’re competing at a high level to give ourselves a chance,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said.

The Celtics’ backcourt of Derrick White and Marcus Smart easily had their best games of the series. They took advantage of the Heat missing starting guard Gabe Vincent (sprained left ankle) and victimized Max Strus and Vincent’s replacement, Kyle Lowry.

White, who opened the conference finals as a reserve, went off with 24 points on six 3s, with two steals. Smart added 23 points (four 3s) and five steals.

“He just plays with a defensive versatility and he does a great job paying attention to detail on personnel tendencies,” Mazzulla said of White. And of Smart, he said: “He’s just an emotional key for us. When he’s locked in and playing both sides of the ball at a different pace, it kind of gives us our identity and our life.”

Jayson Tatum nearly reached a triple double (21 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds and Jaylen Brown added 21 points.) Tatum got it going for Boston with 12 in the first, including a dunk with 3:18 left that prompted Miami’s second time out of the game. The Celtics were already up 15 by then and the closest the game would get was 11 points, in the second quarter.

Neither Bam Adebayo (16 points, eight rebounds) nor Jimmy Butler (14 points) played in the fourth quarter of this blowout. Miami turned to Haywood Highsmith for the first time in this series and he delivered off the bench with 15 points, as did Caleb Martin (14 points) and Duncan Robinson (18 points).

Lowry and Strus gave the Heat little (combining for eight points on 3-of-10 shooting). Miami again was a mess with turnovers (16 for 27 Celtics points) and gave up 17 second-chance points. The Celtics, continuing another recent trend, were hot again from 3-point range.

“Their activity level has gone up the last two games, and that’s what you have to expect in a competitive playoff series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And then we’re playing in a crowd quite a bit. Which there can be some good things from that, if we read the game, read the coverages and make the appropriate plays.

“But you have to give them credit for the activity,” Spoelstra continued….