MIAMI - The Celtics’ third final four appearance in five years ended abruptly late Saturday night. But they went down fighting, their improbable, overachieving playoff run ended with a 101-88 loss to the Miami Heat.

After holding the lead for most of the game, the Celtics were overpowered by the force of LeBron James and had no answer for the Chris Bosh X-factor in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.