Bam Adebayo: How Nigerian Descent Star Helped Miami Heat Beat Boston Celtics to Reach NBA Finals

• Bam Adebayo was in the thick of things as the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics to reach the NBA Finals
• The 25-year-old of Nigerian descent managed 12 points and 10 rebounds on 42.1% shooting in the game
• Sports Brief looks at the Heat star and how crucial he was to his side Eastern Conference Final success

It was an incredible moment for Miami Heat on Monday night as they advanced to the NBA Finals following their win over Boston Celtics.

The Heat defeated the Celtics 103-84 to advance to the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets.

Player of Nigerian descent, Bam Adebayo pulled off an incredible performance during the encounter, helping his team complete a surprising run to the championship series.

Bam Adebayo and his teammates ended the regular season as the No. 7 seed in the East and had to fight through the play-in tournament.

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On a personal note, the former Kentucky star finished the season with impressive averages of 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per contest while shooting 54.0% from the field.

Who is Bam Adebayo?

The 6 foot 9 inch star was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a Nigerian father and an African American mother in 1997.

He was part of the United States team that won gold at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo but missed out on the squad that played at the World Cup a year earlier.

‘Bam Bam’ - as he is fondly called - joined LeBron James and Dwyane Wade as the only players in Heat history to record at least 20 playoff double-doubles.

Miami have 37 playoff wins, the most in the NBA since Jimmy Butler joined them before the 2019-20 season - also the year Adebayo became an All-Star and All-Defense.

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They are the only team in the NBA to reach two Finals in the last four years.

How Adebayo performed vs Celtics

During Game 7, Adebayo managed 12 points and 10 rebounds on 42.1% shooting. Previously, he averaged 16.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 19 games versus the Celtics in his career.

However, basketball legend, Kenny Smith thinks Adebayo has not been giving it his all compared to previous games, which is one of the reasons why Miami is struggling to win.

Also, many criticised him for ‘disappearing’ in the Eastern Conference Final.

Sportskeeda reports that while he had a couple of great games at the start of the series, his numbers suddenly declined after Games 1 and 2 of the playoffs.

With that in mind, this could be one of the reasons why the Miami Heat struggled to complete the sweep against the Boston Celtics.

How Heat defeated Celtics

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Sports Brief also reported on Miami avoiding a historic collapse on Monday with a 103-84 win over Boston.

The Celtics were attempting to become the first team in NBA history to come back from a 0-3 series deficit.

Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin, and the rest of the Heat denied Boston from earning that grand achievement.