It was only a matter of time before the Miami Heat's slow starts in games came back to haunt them. All-Star center Bam Adebayo expressed his frustration over this on-going trend following their 117-106 Game 3 loss in their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Boston Celtics.
Bam, frustrated with how the Heat continue to start games in this series. “We got to start the game how we start the 4th.”
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) September 20, 2020
“They got us on our heels. They were out there hooping and having fun. I guess that was the difference in the game,” Bam Adebayo said.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 20, 2020
“We can’t keep getting in these deficits and go to the fourth and expect us to turn it on,” Bam Adebayo said.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 20, 2020
For the third straight game in this series, the Beantown Boys were able to build a double digit lead during the game. This time, however, the Heat were not able to erase Boston's 20-point deficit, which the C's established midway through the fourth quarter.
The Heat threatened to come back late in the game, bringing the lead down to as close as five points with under a minute left. However, it was a case of too little, too late for the South Beach squad.
Miami has shown time and time again that they can storm back and overcome big deficits. They almost did so and gave a slight scare to Boston in Game 3. However, as Adebayo said, starting out slow isn't an ideal scenario, especially if they want to take down a good team like the Celtics and advance to the NBA Finals. While it didn't show in Games 1 and 2, Boston has proven throughout the playoffs, including in Game 3, that it is very much capable of closing out games.
For his efforts, Adebayo led the way for Miami in Game 3 with 27 points and 16 rebounds. He dominated the paint, going 10-of-14 from the floor. The Celtics, meanwhile, got major contributions from its starters, with four of them scoring at least 20 points. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum led Boston to the Game 3 win with 26 points and 25 points, respectively.
Look for Miami to come out with much more aggressiveness in Game 4 as they look to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
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