If anyone thought the series between the Celtics and Heat was going to be short, get ready. Things have started off hot and it doesn’t look like they’re going to change any time soon: victory for Erik Spoelstra’s team at the first exchange to conquer Boston and gain home field advantage. Just like that: with, again, an imperial Jimmy Butler and achieving a result (116-123) that cannot surprise anyone despite being a surprise. After all, the greens are experts in refusing to be as solid as they should be and those from Florida are specialists in revolutions, machadas, blows on the table. They have things very clear, they play very well, they are magnificently trained and they have nothing to lose. They are the same team, in terms of staff and structure, that reached this same round last year. As much as they did it then as first classified and now as eighth. It seems that nothing has changed. And in reality, he hasn’t: The 2022 series went to a tough seven games. And this one starts so strong that it already promises to be long. We will see.
The Heat cemented their victory in an extraordinary third quarter in which they scored 46 points, an ignominious figure for some very poor Celtics, that disappeared from the map from a defensive point of view. It is not the first time that this has happened to them: their constant disconnections are too great to be able to consider them 100% favorites despite the fact that they are, especially now that there are four teams left in contention and Bucks or Warriors (also Sixers, for those who want to count them ) are removed. But they have to correct their absences as soon as possible, their manifest inability to close series or to lose inexplicable games, if they don’t want the dream of the ring to escape them again… or even have a scare before their time, against the Heat. They only lost a quarter in the entire game and it was that, the third, in which they allowed their rivals to shoot above 65% in field goals and 66% in triples. At the end of that period, the result was 103-91. They had turned around the 57-66 break without excessive problems. And there is no one better than Spoelstra to maintain advantages. And so it was, of course.
The Celtics, who came to win 13 points and go 18-5 in the second period, tried without luck. They got to 5 (103-108) with less than 8 minutes to go. They did it again (109-114) to less than 5. At 2:31, Marcus Brogdon scored one of his two attempts from personal (110-114). That’s as far as the Celtics went: a triple by Caleb Martin and another by Jimmy Butler ended the options for the Blues and allowed the Heat to replicate the results already achieved in the previous rounds, when they also won the initial duel against the Bucks first, and the Knicks after. Jayson Tatum’s 30 points and 7 rebounds were of no use, nor were Jaylen Brown’s 22+9, with 5 assists. Brogdon went to 19 off the bench. Derrick White, 11. Marcus Smart added 13 points and 11 passes to the basket. And Robert Williams a 14 + 7 with 6 of 6 in shots from the field, but a -14 with him on track, always surpassed by Bam Adebayo. That made Joe Mazzulla relegate him to the bench (he played less than 26 minutes), putting Horford on the center and looking for smaller quintets. It didn’t work either.
Watch out for the Heat. They can give anyone problems, they are unbeaten at home in the playoffs (5-0), and full of well-deserved confidence after being eighth in the East and reaching the conference finals. And Jimmy Butler is still imperial: 35 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 steals on 12 of 25 shooting from the field, 2 of 4 from 3-pointers, 9 of 10 from free throws. Martin, Kyle Lowry, Gabe Vincent and Marc Strus added 15 points per head, Adebayo went to 20+8+5 and Kevin Love a correct 8+6 from his regular start. And the Heat a 16 of 31 in triples, an excellent figure that they made compatible with the 15 losses that they caused in the Celtics. The Florida team starts winning, does it with authority, conquers the Garden and promises a long series. And the worst thing for the greens is not that: it is that they continue chaining their usual mistakes, they are not capable of rectifying and they constantly fall into the repetition of the defects that have prevented them from going from constant candidate and main favorite to champion. And there is the theme: in winning. There is nothing else.
