The Miami Heat prepare for Game 3 against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs as the series is tied at one a piece to the surprise of most. After a huge victory in Game 2 at TD Garden, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra along with stars Caleb Martin and Bam Adebayo talked about the preparation heading into Saturday night's integral contest.
When it comes to the success of Miami besides the excellent coaching of Spoelstra, it starts with their main stars in Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, who both showed out in the Game 2 victory. Spoelstra said Friday that “it's not rocket science” that the Celtics will look to slow down the two which means Miami won't “just do the same thing predictably” according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“It’s not rocket science that they’re going to be heavily involved in our offense,” Spoelstra said of the two Heat stars. “The Celtics know that, we know that. There’s going to have to be different layers to it. You can’t just do the same thing predictably. They’ll scheme that. But they’ve had a lot of collaborations over the last several years. It’s all those moments and different things that they’ve experienced together that have allowed us to be able to go to that package.”
Spoelstra praises Herro's playmaking ability
After a forgettable outing in Game 1, Herro excelled in Game 2 as he was a jack-of-all-trades as he led the team with 24 points while also recording 14 assists. He also is the first player in franchise history to record at least 10 assists while also knocking down at least five three-pointers as Spoelstra said the Heat will need all of his best traits.
“We need his aggressiveness, we need his scoring, we need his shooting, we need his playmaking,” Spoelstra said of Herro. “Depending on the possession, it can be any one of those things. But he was good on both ends of the court. He was very good defensively, he was competing on that end, a lot of winning things. I didn’t even see the stat line, I don’t know how many rebounds he had but he was in there. And then based on how we look right now, he’s going to be involved one way or another and sometimes that’s going to be making the right play over and over and over if that’s the right read. He did that [in Game 2].”
Spoelstra talks Adebayo's role on both ends of the floor with Miami
As for Adebayo, he continued off his solid Game 1 with an efficient Game 2 where he made nine of his 13 attempts to finish with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Plus, he was elite defensively holding Celtics big-man Kristaps Porzingis to just six points on one for nine shooting.
“He had big responsibilities defensively,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “Then on the road, yes, it was really important that we had a place where we could just throw the ball and just kind of get settled, especially when they would go on runs or the crowd would get in it and he produced. He was great when we needed to get it settled and he went right to his spot and was able to get some relief points for us.”
The sense of urgency Heat had after ugly Game 1 loss
Besides the exceptional play from Herro and Adebayo as the team is still without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, the Heat made a playoff record 23 three-pointers. Even though they have all the momentum in the world, Spoelstra said that “it's hard to create that edge” with the Celtics.
“We know what Boston’s going to come in here with,” Spoelstra said. “Even knowing that, it’s hard to create that edge, that urgency, all that. We had an unbelievable sense of urgency after Game 1 of getting absolutely embarrassed and feeling a certain way about that. And having that extra day to sit with that was horrible. And that can be motivating. I’m sure Boston feels the same way. We’re going to have to beat them, I’m sure, at their best version of what they bring.”
Herro talks highly of Spoelstra and his coaching ability
A big takeaway people took from the game was that Spoelstra put on a coaching masterclass as he took away the main strengths of the Celtics while highlighting the Heat's on both sides of the ball. While the long-time head coach has always credited his players, Herro took it upon himself to praise Spoelstra and talks about the upcoming game in Miami.
“Everyone knows what Spo does at this time of the year,” Herro said per The Miami Herald. “So we just try to let Spo do him and understand that he knows his adjustments he likes to make from game to game. We just follow his lead. He puts us in the right positions and we just execute.”
“We do understand that it’s not going to be easy in any way, shape or form,” Herro said of Game 3. “They’re the best team on paper for a reason and that’s what it’s going to be. It’s going to be competition and lots of ups and downs, runs that we have to answer and stuff like that. So it will be a great game.”
Heat still the underdogs, despite impressive Game 2 victory
Still, Miami thrives in having a collective team effort which was put on display Wednesday night in Boston. This included the great performance from Caleb Martin who scored 21 points as he said the key is to adapt to the environment being played in.
“I think just staying steady,” Martin said. “I think a lot of it (is) you know what type of environment it’s going to be. It’s going to be a lot of runs, especially in that building. The basket can get eight feet wide sometimes for them. I think just staying steady, just knowing they’re going to have those runs and knowing it’s going to be explosive. As long as we just stay steady, mentally, we’ll be alright.”
Even with the impressive win, the Heat are still massive underdogs to not just win the series, but even a single game. However, this is business as usual as stated by Adebayo that “people still doubt us.”
“People still doubt us,” Adebayo said. “People still think we’re not going to win the series, people still have their opinions about us. For us, we won one game. It’s still first to four.”
As Miami will once again be without Butler and Rozier, they will look to once again reach deep in their bag of tricks and pull off another impressive performance. Game 3 against the Celtics will take place Saturday at 6:00 p.m. (EST) as the Heat look to take a 2-1 series lead.
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