The Miami Heat have punched their ticket into the NBA Playoffs after beating the Chicago Bulls, 112-91, in the play-in tournament Friday night. However, they now have to face the No. 1 seeded Boston Celtics in the first round as stars Bam Adebayo, Jaime Jaquez Jr. along with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra talks about their postseason pathway.
As the rivalry is once again renewed with Miami and Boston facing off in the playoffs, which it will be the fourth time in five years, Adebayo has been in every single series with tons of memorable moments. After he scored 13 points and collected four rebounds in the play-in victory, he said that the series between them and the Celtics will be a “dogfight.”
“It's going to be a dogfight, it's gonna be a battle, it's going to be in the end in mud, it's not gonna be pretty basketball,” Adebayo said. ” And that's usually how it's been when we see that team. Usually how it is ,always competitive. Everybody always plays their best basketball in that series.”
Jaquez talks about his feeling ahead of first NBA playoffs
For Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., it will be his first playoffs experience in the league and what a way to get introduced then a matchup with Boston as he scored an exceptional 21 points and collected six rebounds in the play-in tourney win. With the MCL injury to Jimmy Butler where he will miss multiple weeks, Jaquez is also likely to start his first playoff game and said he is “extremely excited” to be a part of it.
“I'm extremely excited. This is something I wanted to be a part of ever since I was a kid,” Jaquez said. “Being in the playoffs, the most elite level of basketball in the entire world so it'd be able to play and have opportunity to start, I'm excited. I can't wait, especially with guys that we have to go out there and just battle.”
Spoelstra with emotional message to Heat as playoffs start
Spoelstra has been a part of the exciting Heat-Celtics rivalry since he became head coach as it was always a physical battle with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh on one side and Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon Rondo on the other. He has a more emotional take on just being in the postseason, saying they have an appreciation “to be in the playoffs.”
“We talked about this morning, which is to forget about how we got here, it can be frustrating to me, like we were in the play in and we lost the first game,” Spoelstra said. “But if you can get past all that, we get an opportunity to have a game with this kind of competitive spirit and consequences. That's what all of the guys in the locker room want. We have a bunch of type-A competitors. I wanted them to embrace it to enjoy it, to be grateful to have a game like that where it's not a pickup game, it's not like a game where it doesn't have meaning.”
“I have an incredible appreciation for to have an opportunity just to make the playoffs,” Spoelstra continued. “Then we had to do it the hard way just to get this first ticket punched for the invitation to this dance and then we'll figure out this next thing as we get into this next series and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be in the playoffs. I'm grateful for this locker room to have this opportunity.”
Another chapter in the feud will start Sunday afternoon when it will be Game 1 at TD Garden as the Celtics host the Heat. It will be a rough series as they will be without Butler and possibly Terry Rozier.
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