NEW YORK – Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla believes every game is different, and his team had not been affected by last season’s loss to the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference Finals.

The result of that mindset?

A 118-84 home thrashing of the Heat on May 1 to complete an emphatic 4-1 series victory and book their place in the second round of this campaign’s NBA play-offs.

The post-season top seeds – who lost 4-3 to Miami and failed to make the NBA Finals last season – avenged that loss in spectacular fashion with a one-sided wire-to-wire rout at the TD Garden.

“I don’t really worry about what happened last year,” Mazzulla said.

“At the end of the day I liked how we approached the series, regardless of who we were playing.

“It had an intention to it, had attention to detail and had a consistent physicality. And that’s the most important thing, regardless of who we’re playing. We wake up tomorrow and we’ve got to do it again versus another team.”

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White contributed 25 points apiece to lead the scoring for Boston, who 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 half-time, and kept up the pressure in the third quarter to lead 98-66 heading into the final frame.

Mazzulla could afford to rest his front-line players for the fourth period with the game effectively won against an injury-hit Miami team missing Jimmy Butler and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

White’s 25-point haul included five three-pointers, while Jayson Tatum added 16 points, 12 rebounds and three assists.

Sam Hauser added 17 points off the bench and 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.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told ESPN that he felt it was clear the Celtics were playing with more energy than usual, suggesting that it was because of what happened last season.

“They probably had something to motivate them even more against us,” he said.

Boston will now face either the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers or fifth seeds the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Cleveland lead that series 3-2.

In the other play-off game on May 1, Luka Doncic delivered a 35-point performance as the Dallas Mavericks thrashed the Los Angeles Clippers 123-93 on the road to take a 3-2 series lead.

The 30-point margin of defeat was the Clippers’ heaviest play-off loss.

Dallas, who can clinch the series with victory in Game 6 back in Texas on May 3, pulled away towards the end of the first half to open up a 56-46 lead at the break.

They extended that advantage to 20 points after outscoring Los Angeles 33-23 in the third quarter and piled on in the fourth to open up a 32-point advantage at one stage.

Doncic finished with 35 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, while Maxi Kleber added 15 from the bench. Kyrie Irving had a relatively quiet night with 14 points.

“In the play-offs it doesn’t matter if you win by one point or you win by 50 points – it’s still a good win,” Doncic said.

“But the job is not done. We’ve got one more we need to win. We’re gonna get ready for the next game.”

The Slovenian star also revealed that he was suffering from a slight illness that made him constantly blow his nose during the game. He said that his condition made things “tough”, but he did not want to back down.

“You talk about adrenaline in a play-off game,” he said on ESPN.

“Once you get started, you want to do everything you can to help your team win. I just wanted to keep going.” AFP, REUTERS