Jimmy Butler carried the Miami Heat during the first two rounds of the postseason, and the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals was no different.

Butler played a solid all-around game on Wednesday, racking up 35 points, seven assists, six steals and five rebounds while leading the Heat to a 123-116 victory over the host Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Butler raised his 2023 postseason average to 31.5 with his fifth 30-point effort in 11 games. He stopped short of saying he is playing better than ever but asserted the Miami coaching staff has set him up for success.

“I’m playing at an incredible level because they are allowing me to do so and not putting a limit on my game,” Butler said. “They are trusting me with the ball and on the defensive end, and I think that’s what any basketball player wants. What anyone wants in life is to be wanted, to be appreciated and just let you go out there and rock.”

Butler and the Heat were doing most of the rocking — particularly during a 46-point third quarter — while delivering the opening salvo in the best-of-seven series.

Bam Adebayo recorded 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists as the Heat recovered from a 13-point, second-quarter deficit. Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent all scored 15 points for Miami.

Jayson Tatum had 30 points and seven rebounds and Jaylen Brown added 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Boston. Malcolm Brogdon scored 19 points, Robert Williams III had 14 points and seven rebounds and Marcus Smart registered 13 points and 11 assists for the Celtics.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Boston.

Letting a double-digit lead get away at home was disappointing to Tatum.

“We’re going to watch film and talk about it,” Tatum said. “We’ll discuss the things we did well and the things we can do better and come out and execute better on Friday.”

The Heat led 114-105 after Butler’s basket with 5:33 remaining before the Celtics scored the next five points. Martin halted a Miami scoring drought of 3:23 by burying a 3-pointer to make it 117-110 with 2:10 to go.

Butler then made a 3-pointer that went in and out and back in to make it a 10-point game with 1:03 left, and the Heat closed it out.

“He’s not playing for numbers,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler. “He’s trying to help the offense get the best possible high-percentage shot.”

Miami shot 54.1 percent from the field, including 16 of 31 (51.6 percent) from 3-point range.

Boston made 51.9 percent of its shots and was 10 of 29 (34.5 percent) from behind the arc. Derrick White added 11 points for the Celtics.

Miami trailed 66-57 at halftime before outscoring Boston 46-25 in the third quarter to take a 12-point advantage.

The Celtics led 71-59 after Smart’s 3-pointer 65 seconds into the period before the Heat’s explosion began.

Miami used a 13-1 burst to tie the score. The Heat later went on a 10-2 push to move ahead 86-80 on a 3-pointer by Strus with 4:25 left in the period.

Butler’s 3-pointer made it 95-87 with 1:56 left, and Strus capped the Heat’s 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) shooting performance in the third by sinking a 3-pointer with 7.6 seconds remaining. Miami took a 103-91 lead into the final stanza.

“We got away from who we are in the third quarter,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought the first half was good. I thought we just let go of the rope in the third quarter. Lost our sense of urgency. We played harder than them in the first half, and they played harder than us in the third quarter.”

Tatum scored 18 first-half points. The score was tied at 47 before the Celtics went on a 15-2 run to open up a 13-point lead with 2:08 left in the second quarter.

Butler scored 15 points and Lowry had 13 in the first half for the Heat.

–Field Level Media

The Milwaukee Bucks interviewed their former assistant and current Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson for their coaching vacancy Wednesday, ESPN reported.

Sampson, 67, has coached 958 career games with four teams at the collegiate level, but he also spent six seasons as assistant coach in the NBA, three of those with the Bucks (2008-11).

The Bucks have also interviewed Washington Wizards assistant Joseph Blair for the opening, created when the organization fired Mike Budenholzer earlier this month after five seasons and an NBA championship.

Sampson has ties to Bucks general manager Jon Horst, who was a member of the front office when Sampson was an assistant to then-head coach Scott Skiles.

Sampson is 657-301 over 30 seasons as head coach of Washington State (1987-94), Oklahoma (1994-2006), Indiana (2006-08) and Houston (2014-current).

Blair won a 2019 G League title as head coach of Rio Grande Valley.

Other candidates for the post are Bucks assistant Charles Lee, Golden State’s Kenny Atkinson, Portland’s Scott Brooks, Toronto’s Adrian Griffin, Miami’s Chris Quinn, Phoenix’s Kevin Young and former Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego. Newly unemployed Monty Williams, fired by Phoenix over the weekend, will also reportedly draw interest from Milwaukee.

Budenholzer, 53, went 271-120 in five seasons in Milwaukee, making the playoffs every year and winning the title in 2021.

–Field Level Media

Philadelphia 76ers general manager Daryl Morey said Wednesday that the team plans to take its time in its approach toward naming a new head coach.

“We’re taking a careful process with the coach,” Morey said Wednesday, one day after the Sixers fired Doc Rivers.

“We do not think it will move quickly. We have to be careful with the process word but it is true.”

Rivers led the 76ers to the Eastern Conference semifinal series in each of his three seasons at the helm. Third-seeded Philadelphia fell apart in the second half of Game 7 on Sunday and dropped a 112-88 decision to the second-seeded Boston Celtics.

Morey admitted Wednesday that he recommended the move to part ways with Rivers.

“My job is to evaluate everything and we felt like that was the best move for helping us get to our goals going forward,” Morey said. “It was carefully thought out and I recommended it to ownership and they accepted it.”

Per ESPN, the 76ers’ search for a new coach is expected to include Mike Budenholzer, Sam Cassell, Mike D’Antoni, Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel and Monty Williams.

Morey also said Wednesday that newly minted NBA MVP Joel Embiid — or any other player on the 76ers’ roster — will not have a say in the identity of the new coach.

Which brings us to James Harden, who is expected to decline the $35.6 million option on his contract and become a free agent. Morey admitted that the 76ers “are interested in bringing him back,” however he also said the team would get creative if it doesn’t come to pass.

“There’s like 26 teams that would rather have our roster,” Morey said. “We’re starting with the MVP of the league. The draft lottery yesterday was hoping to get a top pick to hope that player becomes as good as the MVP of the league. We’re starting in a great spot.”

–Field Level Media

Heat star Jimmy Butler is known for speaking his mind, and he didn’t disappoint the day before eighth-seeded Miami visits the second-seeded Boston Celtics for the opener of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

Butler insisted this Miami team will not be deterred on its way to the NBA title.

“This year is our year,” Butler said. “We’re going to go into this Game 1 and do what we’re supposed to do and be the first one to four (victories). We are very capable of it.”

Capable, yes, but Miami will be attempting it as a decided underdog.

The Heat are 8.5-point underdogs in Game 1 at BetMGM, although they have drawn 73 percent of the spread-line bets and 66 percent of the handle since the line opened at 7.5. Their moneyline opened at +260 but has moved to +290 with the Heat backed by 79 and 69 percent of the action, respectively.

The Celtics are 8.0-point favorites in Game 1 at BetRivers, where they have drawn only 37 percent of the spread-line bets and 29 percent of the money. Boston is also a heavy -500 favorite to win the series, and the public is overwhelmingly backing that outcome with 80 percent of the bets and 82 percent of the money.

FAMILIAR PLAYOFF FOES

This is the third time in the past four seasons that the Celtics and Heat have met in the East finals. And it will be a different Boston coach on the sideline for the third occasion.

Miami eliminated Brad Stevens’ Boston team in six games in 2020 before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. Last season, the Ime Udoka-coached Celtics ousted the Heat in seven games before falling to the Golden State Warriors in the championship round.

Udoka was fired prior to the season due to a workplace affair and was replaced by Joe Mazzulla, a first-time head coach who gets to match wits against Miami’s well-respected Erik Spoelstra.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge for Joe, but I think he’s going to handle it well,” Boston star Jaylen Brown said. “He’s handled it well all season. He’s been scrutinized, but he’s done a good job. He is a rookie coach, but he’s taken a championship-caliber team and now we’re back in the Eastern Conference finals.

“He deserves some credit for that. But he’s going against one of the greatest coaches of all time, and I think there’s a level of respect there and understanding that Spoelstra is going to make adjustments.”

Brown averaged 24.1 points in last season’s matchup with the Heat, just behind star Jayson Tatum’s 25 per game.

Tatum is coming off a performance for the ages. He poured in a Game 7-record 51 points as the Celtics pounded the Philadelphia 76ers 112-88 to reach the Eastern finals.

“It’s a big movie,” Boston guard Marcus Smart said of Tatum’s show. “Being able to just sit back, eat your popcorn and watch. Sometimes we do get in that mode where we forget that we’re on the court playing with him.”

Tatum has quickly put that epic effort behind him and is focused on competing against the Heat.

“A team that we’re extremely familiar with,” Tatum said about the matchup. “A very well-coached team, they compete with the best of them, play hard. They defend, they make plays and they figure out a way to win games. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be highly competitive and I’m looking forward to it.”

JIMMY BUTLER: ‘I LIKE OUR CHANCES’

The intensity level is always high when Butler is on the floor. He averaged 25.6 points against Boston in last season’s series.

He also produced a milestone effort in this season’s playoffs with 56 points in a first-round victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. The 56 points tied for fourth most in an NBA playoff game.

Butler was plagued by an ankle injury in the conference semifinal series win over the New York Knicks. The ankle is feeling better, and so is Butler’s outlook about Miami’s supporting cast.

“Guys are playing some incredible basketball,” Butler said. “I like our chances, as does everyone in this organization.”

Heat center Bam Adebayo hasn’t forgotten the critics that pounced when the team lost to the Atlanta Hawks in its first play-in game before beating the Chicago Bulls to move into the playoffs.

“It’s a crazy story being written,” Adebayo said. “Through all the ups and downs of this season, a lot of people counting us out and saying we weren’t even going to make it past the first round and now we’re in the Eastern Conference finals. It just shows the determination and the will that this team has.”

Boston and Miami split four regular-season meetings. Each club split the two games on its home floor.

EMPHASIS ON ‘D’

Sportsbooks are expecting a far lower-scoring game than was seen in Game 1 of the Western Conference semis.

The 209.5-point Over/Under at BetMGM has moved slightly to 210.5, with the Over backed by 80 percent of the bets and 81 percent of the handle. The market is at 211 at BetRivers, with the Over drawing 75 and 76 percent of the action, respectively.

–Field Level Media