MIAMI — More than an hour after the final buzzer sounded, after the Celtics’ season was saved under improbable, unfathomable circumstances, Jayson Tatum sat up on a podium and buried his face in his hands.

He still couldn’t believe what had just happened, what he had just witnessed.

“Ooh-whee. Oh, my God,” he said. “That was incredible. …

“I’m still like in disbelief. That s— was crazy.”

The Celtics’ season looked suddenly lost in the final seconds of Game 6 on Saturday night in Miami. They needed a miracle after they had just blown yet another double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, after Jimmy Butler rose from the dead to put his Heat in front and on the cusp of the NBA Finals, after a wild sequence.

But these Celtics thrive when they’re counted out.

With three seconds on the clock, the Celtics trailing by one, Derrick White inbounded the ball to Marcus Smart, who heaved a last-second 3-pointer. It rattled in and out. But White didn’t give up on the play, he didn’t quit on the season. No one on the Heat put a body on him. He crashed the glass. The ball fell right to him. He tipped the ball in, barely beating the horn. He sent the Celtics to an unbelievable, epic 105-104 victory, in one of the most incredible endings in this storied team’s history.

“I’ve never been a part of a game like this,” Al Horford said.

“To be that poised and finish like that,” Horford said, “that’s legendary.”

The Celtics are still alive after a miracle in Miami.

“It all happened so fast,” Jaylen Brown said. “I know Smart shot it, and I thought it was good. Then Derrick White, like a flash of lightning, just came out of nowhere and saved the day, man. It was just an incredible play.”

The play was even more legendary given the circumstances, given the history at stake. The Celtics were left for dead, looking hopeless as they walked off this court less than a week ago, humiliated after a Game 3 loss put them in an 0-3 series hole in these Eastern Conference Finals, a deficit that has never been overcome. But they’ve reeled off three consecutive wins. They became the fourth team to ever force a Game 7 under those circumstances.

Game 7 – an unthinkable possibility last weekend – is Monday night in Boston, and if the Celtics can finish this comeback and then go on to win a championship, White’s season-saving play will be remembered in franchise lore.

“I was just happy,” said a humble White, who was emotional in the moments after the play. “Season was on the line. We don’t want to go home, and so I was just happy we got the win.”

The Celtics were in control, in the lead for most of Saturday night despite their worst 3-point shooting performance of the season. They made just seven of 35 attempts from deep, but because of their rediscovered defensive identity over these last three games, they stayed in front.

But they know the Heat are difficult to close out. They learned that the hard way in Games 1 and 2. Then again in Game 6. The Celtics led by nine with 3:04 to play before Butler came alive. The Heat star shrugged off a woeful 2-for-17 start from the field and willed Miami back.

Butler made a 3-pointer with 2:04 left. Four-point game.

Butler was fouled with 1:31 remaining. He made the first. Three-point game. Then he missed the second. Caleb Martin corralled the rebound and found Duncan Robinson wide open for three. But it somehow missed. The Heat weren’t done though.

Butler converted a three-point play with 53 seconds to go. One-point game.

The C’s were teetering at the worst possible moment. Tatum, who was brilliant in the first half, struggled to find a shot in the second half and was blocked twice on one play. Bam Adebayo got the ball, He found Robinson in transition, and he took an early wide open triple. But he missed again.

The Celtics weren’t quite out of the woods. After all the madness, they led by two in the final seconds before they experienced a disastrous sequence. Butler was fouled by Horford on what, at first glance, looked like a two-pointer. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla challenged the call, hoping to overturn the foul. But the call was upheld, and after the review, Butler’s shot attempt was ruled to be a 3-pointer.

The play would have been reviewed on whether it was a 2 or 3 regardless if Mazzulla had challenged. Regardless, it gave Butler three shots to take the lead, and he calmly sank all of them.

The C’s were suddenly on the verge of devastating elimination.

“In all honesty, at that point, I’m in full prayer mode,” Brown said. “Whatever prayer I got, whatever dua I got, reciting it over and over in my head.”

Mazzulla called a timeout to draw up a play. It would have been natural for the Celtics to be deflated after that sequence. But in the huddle, they weren’t panicked. They were locked in on an opportunity to win.

“I didn’t have time to think like oh, s— the season might be over,” Tatum said. “It was like no, we’ve got three seconds left, we try and make a play. Whatever happened just happened.
Nobody was sitting there pouting like oh, we blew it. No, we’ve got three seconds left. Joe drew up a play. We tried to execute it to the best of our ability and try to make something happen. “That never crossed my mind while I was sitting there. I was just trying to see what we were running.”

Almost ironically, Mazzulla’s failed challenge actually aided the final play. When Butler was fouled by Horford, there were 2.1 seconds left on the clock. But after the review, it was changed to 3.0 seconds. The clock was only reviewed because Mazzulla challenged the play.

That extra time was ultimately crucial for the Celtics, giving White the time he needed to sneak to the basket for the game-winning tip-in.

For a few moments, there was uncertainty if the basket counted. But after the play was shown on the video board at the arena, it was clear White released the ball with one-tenth of a second on the clock. The Celtics erupted in celebration on the court. Robert Williams grabbed White, then the rest of his teammates followed to mob their hero.

It was the stuff of legends.

“This is how special teams, championship teams … throughout runs, you’re going to go through a situation like this,” Horford said. “This was big for us.”