The Miami Heat fell to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday night by a final score of 121-108. The C’s were buoyed by a decisive third quarter in which they outscored Miami by a 41-25 margin.
Neither team looked particularly sharp from downtown, but the Heat—who are known for having a bevy of capable shooters—shot a putrid 19.4 percent from deep on the night (7-of-36).
Despite that terrible showing, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra still thoroughly believes in his team’s shooting skills, as outside shooting is always a bit fluky. Spo was quoted by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel:
“Our guys are extremely ignitable. It can happen just like that. Our guys are like a powder-keg, our shooters. They can explode at any time.”
In order to illustrate his point, Spoelstra apparently snapped his fingers.
Certainly, the Heat shouldn’t overreact to a bad shooting night. The Heat were the second-best three-point shooting team during the regular season, behind only the Utah Jazz (via Basketball-Reference).
Much of the Heat’s three-point shooting success can be chalked up to the absolute deadeye shot-making of second-year wing Duncan Robinson—who turned himself into one of the best three-point shooters in the entire league this past season.
After a subpar rookie year in which he only played 15 games, Robinson started 68 of the Heat’s 73 games during the season and shot a staggering 44.6 percent from deep on a whopping 88.2 percent three-point attempt rate. That combination of volume and percentage is clearly why Spo believes his team will vastly improve on their numbers from Game 5.
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