"My X-factors coming into this series were Bam Adebayo and Jaylen Brown" - Former NBA champion singles out Miami Heat center for his monster Game 3 performance against Celtics

Bam Adebayo's 31-point double-double put an end to his slump in the series against the Celtics

After taking a 21-point lead in the first quarter, the Miami Heat battled through the rest of the game. Despite not winning another quarter, they finished the game 109-103 against the Boston Celtics on Saturday. The Heat are now 2-1 up in the Eastern Conference finals.

Former NBA champion Matt Barnes, on ESPN's "SportsCenter," talked about Bam Adebayo's incredible night which pushed the Heat past the Celtics in the absence of Jimmy Butler:

"My x-factors coming into this series were Bam Adebayo and Jaylen Brown and neither of those guys disappointed tonight but Bam was just aggressive, you know, 16 points over the first two games is really not up to his standards.

"I like the fact that he got 22 shots up tonight, scored 31 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, he was doing it all over the floor on both sides of the floor...if Bam plays like this, Miami is going to be really tough to beat this series. "

Jimmy Butler came out of the game with right-knee inflammation and did not join the team on the floor in the second half. Erik Spoelstra, in a post-game press-conference, alluded to the injury, commenting that no MRI would be needed for Butler's knee injury.

Bam Adebayo ends his streaky stretch of games in the playoffs as the Miami Heat regain home-court advantage

Bam Adebayo along with PJ Tucker, Victor Oladipo and Max Strus put the Heat on their back and took a road-game win in Boston on Saturday.

Coming into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, Bam Adebayo averaged 13.6 points and 7.5 rebounds in the playoffs. In his last five games, Bam has put up 9.5 points and 6.8 rebounds on average.

But on Saturday, he broke his run of poor performances. He scored 31 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals to propel the Miami Heat to a win on the road.

Exhale.

2-1 series lead. https://t.co/Dkjo5yKMXj

Despite being down for most of the game, the Celtics came close to taking the lead late in the fourth quarter. But a Max Strus three, coming off PJ Tucker's screen, put any hopes the Celtics had of winning the game to rest.

The one-point deficit that the Celtics climbed to soon turned into a six-point lead for the Miami Heat. Despite making plenty of three-pointers down the stretch, Boston just couldn't get past the finish line.