Subscribe
Follow Us
Nobody expected the Miami Heat to be in the Eastern Conference Finals this season. Well, maybe the Heat did, but ending the regular season having to fight for a playoff spot in the Play-In Tournament, it seemed like Miami could be heading for an offseason full of mystery.
Entering Game 4 of the conference finals on Tuesday night, the Heat found themselves up 3-0 on the Boston Celtics, the reigning Eastern Conference champions, and on the verge of making the NBA Finals for the second time in the last four years. With how Boston looked early on in this series, it seemed as if they were going to be swept in four games, but the Celtics found a little bit of magic and won Tuesday's game 116-99 to extend this series at least one more game.
No team in NBA history has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit, so the Heat have nothing to worry about right?
History is absolutely on Miami's side, but you can never get too comfortable in the NBA Playoffs and a veteran team like the Heat know this.
“They got us tonight,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game. “You have to give them credit for that. There's no doubt about it, there's no questioning it. We're not wondering about that. They deserved to win tonight. We have to regroup and get ready for a great opportunity in Boston.”
The final game of any series is always the toughest game to win and for the Heat, they simply got outmatched by a Celtics team that did not want to see their series come to an end. Miami led them by six points at halftime and took momentum heading into the locker room, but Boston's defense stepped up alongside some sloppy play by the Heat and the Celtics outscored Miami 56-43 in the second half.
A lot of credit needs to be given to the Celtics and head coach Joe Mazzulla for digging deep and pulling out this victory in Miami to force a Game 5 on their home floor. However, the Heat should not be worried about Game 4's result whatsoever because of the fact that they got caught on a bad shooting night.
After shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from three-point range through the first three games of this series, Miami shot just 43.6 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from three-point range in Game 5. On Boston's side of things, after shooting 29.2 percent from three-point range through the first three games, the Celtics went 18-45 (40.0 percent) from deep in Miami on Tuesday night.
Numbers don't lie and for the first time all series, the Celtics made their shots from the perimeter and ultimately came out with a victory because of this. If they can replicate this success from the perimeter again, the Celtics will have a good chance of winning at home and forcing a Game 6 in Miami.
The catch here though is that Boston lives and dies by the three-point shot. The Heat understand what is at stake heading back to Boston with yet another chance to close out this series and while their shots were not falling in Game 4, they know they are in a good position if they play how they have all series.
“Just get back to doing what we've always done to get us to this point,” Jimmy Butler said. “Continually have belief in one another. Knowing that we are going to win and we will. We just gotta play harder. Like, there's not too much to say with this group because we already know so we just gotta go out there and execute.”
The Heat should not necessarily be alarmed with their performance in Game 4, but they must come ready to play in Boston because if the Celtics win again, a sense of doubt could begin to come into play in this series. Boston began this series as the heavy favorites and Miami were big underdogs. The script has completely flipped with the Heat's dominance, which is why mentalities can begin to change.
A series is never over until a team wins four games and as cliché as that sounds, it is very true. It is unlikely that the Celtics come back in this series and win four straight games to advance to the NBA Finals, but it is certainly possible given the offensive firepower they have with their two All-Stars in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Not to mention, going from being the underdogs to the favorites can easily mess with the Heat's overall mentality.
Miami must make sure they play with the same intensity and focus they had entering this series because the last thing they want is to head back home to play yet another game against the Celtics.
“We have great respect for Boston and what they are capable of,” Spoelstra said. “They're a dynamic offensive team that takes extraordinary efforts and commitment to get the job done. Our guy's really want this, but Boston has something to say about this as well… We have to regroup and get ready for a great opportunity in Boston.”
