Celtics incinerate Heat to clinch NBA playoff series

LOS ANGELES – The Boston Celtics crushed the Miami Heat, 118-84, to complete an emphatic 4-1 series victory Wednesday (Thursday Manila time) and book their place in the second round of the NBA playoffs.

The postseason top seeds — upset by Miami in last year's Eastern Conference finals — avenged that loss in spectacular fashion with a one-sided wire-to-wire rout at the TD Garden.

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White scored 25 points apiece to lead Boston, which barely noticed the absence of the injured Kristaps Porzingis.

The Celtics threw down the gauntlet in the first quarter, racking up a whopping 41 points to open up a commanding 18-point advantage.

They extended that lead to 22 points by halftime, and kept up the pressure in the third quarter to lead 98-66 heading into the final frame.

Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla could afford to rest his frontline players for the fourth with the game effectively won against an injury-hit Miami team missing Jimmy Butler and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Boston will now face either the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers or fifth seed Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Cleveland leads that series 3-2.

The Celtics advance into the next series brimming with confidence after ruthlessly taking care of eighth-seeded Miami in five games.

White's 25-point haul included five 3-pointers while Jayson Tatum added 16 points, including 12 rebounds with three assists.

Sam Hauser added 17 points off the bench while Jrue Holiday also cracked double figures with 10 points.

Bam Adebayo led Miami's scoring with 23 points, with Tyler Herro finishing with 15 and Caleb Martin 10.