LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Jimmy Butler led a fourth-quarter fightback as the Miami Heat stunned the Boston Celtics 111-105 to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA Eastern Conference finals series on Friday.

Miami talisman Butler finished with 27 points as the eighth seeds grabbed a second straight victory at Boston’s TD Garden to leave the Celtics with a mountain to climb if they are to reach the NBA finals.

Miami had trailed by 11 points early in the fourth quarter and the Celtics led by as much as nine with under seven minutes of the final frame remaining.

But Butler led a sensational 20-9 Miami run in the final minutes of the fourth quarter that turned the game on its head and left his team just two wins away from returning to the NBA finals as the best-of-seven series heads to Miami for games three and four.

“We got some dogs, and I love it, I love every bit of it,” an elated Butler said during an on-court interview after the Miami win. “Guys never quit, guys never give up, we love playing with one another – we got so much faith and trust in one another.”

Nine of Butler’s 27 points came during the fourth-quarter rally, with the Miami star fired up after an angry nose-to-nose exchange with Boston’s Grant Williams midway through the fourth quarter.

At that stage in the game, Boston led 96-89, but Miami launched a devastating late run that turned the contest decisively in favour of the Heat.

Butler later admitted that Williams’ apparent taunts had fuelled his inspired late contribution.

“Yes, it did,” Butler replied when asked if he had been motivated by Williams’ trash-talk.

“But that’s just competition at its finest. He hit a big shot. Started talking to me; I like that.

I’m all for that. It makes me key in a lot more. It pushes that will that I have to win a lot more.

“It makes me smile. It does. When people talk to me, I’m like, ‘Okay, I know I’m a decent player, if you want to talk to me out of everybody that you can talk to.’

“But it’s just competition. I do respect him, though. He’s a big part of what they try to do. I just don’t know if I’m the best person to talk to.”

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team’s battling, never-say-die approach had been forged through the challenges of the regular season when they only just scraped into the playoffs.

“This year was really unique for all of us,” Spoelstra said. “There’s a beauty in the struggle. There’s a beauty in that grind.”

Butler received offensive support from Caleb Martin, with 25 points off the bench, while Bam Adebayo delivered another all-round effort with 22 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists.

Duncan Robinson added 15 points from the bench, including three three-pointers.

A shellshocked Boston, meanwhile, were left reflecting on another shattering defeat at home despite 34 points from Jayson Tatum.

Jaylen Brown finished with 16 points but had a wayward shooting night, making only seven of 23 from the field, while Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon had 13 points apiece.

Boston coach Joe Mazzulla blamed indiscipline and mental frailty for his team’s defeat.

“It comes down to the details and the margins,” Mazzulla said.

“This is a series of discipline and mindset. And there were times throughout the game where we weren’t the more disciplined team.” Asked if he believed Boston’s late collapse was “mental”, Mazzulla agreed.

“It’s mental from the standpoint of who can make the right plays at the right times, who can make the simple plays, who can win those details and those margins,” Mazzulla said.

“So, yeah, it’s definitely mental.”

Tatum, meanwhile, insisted that all was not lost despite Boston dropping the opening two games of the series on their home court.

“It’s tough. It’s a challenge. No point in being up here sad, right. They came in and won two games,” Tatum said.

“They played well, you give them credit. But we’re not dead or anything. I still have the utmost confidence, everybody has the utmost confidence.”

Game three takes place in Miami today.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Denver coach Michael Malone thinks the world should wake up to the greatness of two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets teammates – who incidentally have a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals.

But if a media spotlight on the Lakers motivates his team, that’s okay too.

“Whatever we can use for motivation,” Malone said after the Nuggets erased an 11-point deficit to beat the Lakers 108-103 in game two at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday.

That followed a 132-126 victory in game one, in which the Nuggets built a commanding lead only to find themselves fighting off the surging Lakers in the fourth quarter.

“You win game one of the (Western Conference Finals) and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” Malone said.

“Let’s be honest, that was the national narrative, (it) was hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0 but they figured something out. No one talked about Nikola who just had a historic performance.”

Malone noted that Jokic’s 13 career playoff triple-doubles put him third all-time behind Magic Johnson (30) and LeBron James (28).

“What he’s doing is just incredible,” Malone said of the Serbian star. “But the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets, the narrative wasn’t about Nikola.

“The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments. You come back and you know what… we’re going to go up 2-0.”

While Jokic came through with yet another triple-double, it was Jamal Murray’s 23-point fourth-quarter explosion that carried the Nuggets past the Lakers on Thursday.

Murray said the top-seeded Nuggets are not concerned about being overlooked against the glamourous Lakers franchise led by the superstar duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis and gunning for a record 18th NBA crown.

“The outside noise is the outside noise,” Murray said.

“We’re the Denver Nuggets, we’re used to that. Even when we win, they talk about the other team. Same old, same old. It fuels us a little more and will be sweeter when we win the chip.”

Despite his bravado, Malone said the Nuggets were keenly aware as the series shifts to Los Angeles that the hardest work remains.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Malone said.

“You’ve got to win a game on the other team’s home court if you really want to do something in a series. We know how great that team is, especially on their home court.

“We’re not celebrating,” Malone said.

“This is not cause for celebration. This is a cause to continue to dig deep and find ways to be better.”

ROCHESTER, UNITED STATES (AFP) – Rory McIlroy (AP, pic below) was stunned to find himself only five strokes off the pace halfway through the PGA Championship as bad as his drives have been at Oak Hill.

The four-time major-winner from Northern Ireland closed with a 16-foot birdie putt to fire a one-under-par 69 in Friday’s second round to share 10th on level par 140.

But McIlroy has felt ill at times and managed to find the fairway in only seven of 28 opportunities, spraying errant tee shots in all directions, testing his patience.

“I need to be patient with the way I’m hitting it off the tee,” he said.

“I stayed really patient. I think my patience was rewarded with a couple of good breaks and a couple of birdies coming in.”

If McIlroy could find his form over the weekend, it’s not impossible he could end a nine-year major drought.

“I think how terribly I’ve felt over the golf ball over the last two days, the fact that I’m only five back – not saying I could be up there with one of my best performances, but when I holed that putt at the last, I looked at the board and I thought, ‘I can’t believe I’m five back,'” McIlroy said.

“I guess that’s a good thing because I know if I can get it in play off the tee, that’s the key to my success over the weekend. If I can get the ball in play off the tee, I’ll have a shot.”

McIlroy said he might just go for broke when it comes to ball bashing off the tee.

“At this point I might just tee it high and just bomb it everywhere,” McIlroy said.

“I hit my last two tee shots on 17 and 18 really hard, and they actually were really good
tee shots.

“As long as you’re missing it in the right spots off the tees, I might as well just go for it and swing hard.”

McIlroy is also recovering from illness.

“I felt better today,” he said. “Hopefully that trend continues over the weekend.”

CRANS-MONTANA, SWITZERLAND (AFP) – Colombian Einer Rubio (AFP, pic below) came through in the final kilometre (km) to overtake Thibault Pinot and Jefferson Cepeda and claim a maiden grand tour win in a shortened stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia on Friday.

The Movistar rider, who was part of an early breakaway, was dropped multiple times on the final climb but dug deep and then found a late burst to snap the tape six seconds in front of Pinot.

Cepeda came in another six seconds behind with the leader’s group rolling in one minute 35 seconds behind Rubio.

British rider Geraint Thomas finished ninth to keep the leader’s pink jersey for a fifth day, two seconds ahead of Slovenian Primoz Roglic.

“Finally, my big day,” said the 25-year-old Rubio at the finish.

“I was looking for it and I’ve worked really hard for this. I really wanted to prepare for this Giro. I’ve struggled in the bad weather but I knew that I didn’t have to give up.”

Rubio admitted that he had allowed Pinot and Cepeda to wear each other down as they bickered at the front of the breakaway, apparently ignoring the threat of the Colombian.

“I knew that Pinot was really strong, Cepeda as well,” said Rubio. “So I just had to leave them to play their game. That was the strategy. Maybe it will sink in soon. I came thinking I could win a stage but I managed to achieve it.”

Groupama-FDJ climber Pinot was spitting nails at the end, not even raising his arms as he crossed the line. He said the result was a “big, big disappointment” before accusing Cepeda (EF Education) of not taking “a single relay”. “I do not understand how you can expect to win in this way,” said the flabbergasted Frenchman.

“I didn’t want Cepeda to win, I would have spilled my guts not letting him get away,” said Pinot.

The 32-year old did at least take the blue jersey for best climber but that was minor consolation for Pinot who was looking for a second Giro stage win, following a lone success in 2017, before he pedals off into retirement at the end of the year.

The first big mountain stage of this year’s race was meant to chew up 207km of road from Borgofranco d’Ivrea to the Swiss ski resort Crans Montana.

But the wretched weather, which has claimed the lives of 14 people in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region, saw the stage shortened to 74km, largely to reduce the dangers of the downhill sections.

“It’s a good decision if we want to arrive in Rome (on May 28) with at least 50 riders,” said Ineos leader Thomas. “It (weather conditions) scares everyone. That’s why it stayed calm today and on top of that there was a headwind on the last climb.”

Around 40 of the 176 riders who started the race have already dropped out because of COVID-19 and other viruses, including pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel.

LONDON (AFP) – Frank Lampard (AP, pic below) has urged his Chelsea players to learn from the example set by Manchester City’s treble challenge when the teams meet at the Etihad today.

City will retain the Premier League title and win the first of the three trophies they are chasing this season if they beat Chelsea.

If City take the title, it will be the fifth time in six seasons that Pep Guardiola’s team have been crowned champions of England.

They then have a second Champions League final in three years to come against Italy’s Inter Milan plus the FA Cup final against local rivals Manchester United.

City’s brilliant form was there for all to see with a 4-0 humiliation of European champions Real Madrid on Wednesday, a 17th win in their last 19 games.

Chelsea, once a challenger for major trophies, are currently languishing in 11th place despite co-owner Todd Boehly splashing out some GBP600 million (USD747 million) on transfers during the last 12 months.

Caretaker Chelsea manager Lampard, who may be replaced by Mauricio Pochettino, said his side should take heart from City’s work ethic.

“The only inspiration the young players should need is what it’s taken Man City to get where they’ve got,” said Lampard.

“It’s not the moment of lifting the cup, it’s Kevin De Bruyne’s journey, and (Erling) Haaland’s journey, and (Ilkay) Gundogan’s journey, and John Stones’s journey.”

The former Chelsea and England midfielder added: “A player has to understand that the cup-lifting moments are because of all the work done over the years against the odds, whatever it is, how hard they work.

“That team clearly works hard and then when one has to stop working hard the next one steps in and works hard. That’s what the players have to understand.”