The Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 102-99 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday, leading 3-1 in the series and getting only one win away from making the NBA Finals for the first time in six years.

Tyler Herro outshined everyone else on the court by putting down game-high 37 points. At the age of 20 years and 247 days, he became the youngest substitute player to get 30+ points in a playoff game, the second-youngest one to score 35+ points in one playoff game after Derrick Rose (20 years and 196 days old), the fifth first-year rookie to have 30+ points in a Conference Finals game, and the third player to score 30+ points in a playoff game before tuning 21 years old after Magic Johnson and Rose. Herro also broke Miami's franchise record of rookie score in a playoff game kept by Dwyane Wade (27 points).

"I'm just going to bet on myself. I've been doing that my whole life. I went from a small town in Milwaukee to Kentucky, and nobody thought I would survive there, and nobody thought I would survive here. At the end of the day, it's just betting on myself," said Herro, who was selected by Miami with the 13th pick in the NBA Draft. The pick also brought Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Zach Lavine and most importantly, Kobe Bryant to the league.

"Not too many people get an opportunity to make it this far in the playoffs and to be in a game like this. But for him, it's another day at the office. I think it makes all of us smile. We're all so happy for him because he knows what he's capable of, and he just plays with so much confidence. He's been doing it all year long. So to him, there's no pressure or anything. He's just going to keep playing basketball the right way," said Miami's All-Star forward Jimmy Butler.

"I know like everybody is looking for that signature moment. That would be such a great story, right: 'I knew that day he would be this guy.' I think everybody overestimates what you can do in a day and what you can do in months of work and sweat and grind when nobody is watching. He is relentless with his work ethic," said Miami's head coach Erik Spoelstra.

Fairly speaking, Miami were in their best form in Wednesday's game. Herro aside, the rest of the team went 5-27 from the 3-point line, thanks to the 17, 1-4 and 0-4 performance by Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala and Duncan Robinson. Though Bam Adebayo was 6-7 under the rim, Miami's points in the paint were limited to 38. Moreover, coach Spoelstra DNPed Kelly Olynyk and replaced him with Solomon Hill who played his first minute in the playoffs this season. Though Hill only got four minutes on the court, imagine how terrible Miami's spacing was when he and Iguodala were both on the court.

Herro's 37 points were even more valuable for his team when their offense became so problematic because of the aforementioned unfavorable factors. Meanwhile, Boston also had some credit for "helping" Herro cook so well with their defensive choices.

Perhaps he watched enough of Miami making easy baskets via backdoor cutting when Daniel Theis switched to defend perimeter players and left the paint open – Boston's head coach Brad Stevens had Theis remain under the rim for screen play. As a result, every time Herro called a screen, he could get an open shot. Most of them were in the middle range but the 20-year-old was lethally 5-4 there, putting Boston's in a lot of pain.

Boston's offense went much better than their defense especially when Jayson Tatum found his touch back in the second half. Having gone 0-6 from downtown in the first half, Tatum drilled four of his five attempts behind the 3-point line in the second half. Jaylen Brown punished Miami's defense hard by going 4-7 in 3-pointers. Kemba Walker also shook off the leash on him to get 20 points. Marcus Smart was struggling with his shooting but he delivered 11 assists. Gordon Hayward contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists while bury two triples, all what the team needed from him.

However, Boston still lost despite all the good work they did above. They already trailed 3-1 and could not afford even one more loss.