Who was the idiot that gave the Heat a 3% chance of winning? The Miami Heat exploded in the 3rd quarter for nearly 50 points as they won Game 1 123-116 over the Celtics, proving this is going to be an extremely close series.
This Heat team is honestly one of the most remarkable units in NBA history.
The Miami Heat proved once again that they are championship caliber contenders as they upset the Celtics 123-116 in Boston to take a 1-0 series lead on the back of a 50-point 3rd quarter performance, putting all of the pressure on the Celtics to respond. And, as I said in the intro, the odds makers giving the Heat a 3% chance of winning was one of the stupidest bets ever made.
I just don’t understand how people paid millions of dollars and relied upon by multi-billion dollar betting corporations thought it would be a good idea to give a Heat team that not only has reached three Eastern Conference Finals (2020, 2022, 2023) and the NBA Finals (2020) in the last four seasons, but also upset the 1st seeded Bucks and the 5th seeded Knicks to reach the CF this year had a mere 3% chance of winning this series.
Now, I’m obviously more upset about this fact than the average person over this minor factor as a Celtics fan as that mindset completely rattled the C’s last night.
Despite coming off a grueling 7-game series against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Celtics came into the game yesterday on fire as they broke open the Heat defense and were absolutely lethal from the field with a 9-point halftime lead and a 13-point lead at the peak of their offensive.
Jayson Tatum (30 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK), Jaylen Brown (22 PTS, 9 REB, 5 AST), Malcolm Brogdon (19 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST), Marcus Smart (13 PTS, 1 REB, 11 AST, 2 STLs, 1 BLK), and Robert Williams III (14 PTS, 7 REB, 1 BLK) were all playing fantastic team basketball as they spread the ball across the lineup, deferred when the Heat defenders closed them down, and made sure to drive on a rather weak Heat pain defense.
Sure, their 3-point shooting was rather off (which ended up really costing them in the end), but that was being masked by the outstanding paint play of Robert Williams and Al Horford (7 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST, 3 STLs). The Heat just simply couldn’t stop him or the Celtics…until they did.
Coming out of the halftime break, Heat HC Erik Spoelstra once again showed why he’s the best coach in the NBA as he calmed his Heat team down, negated all of their turnovers (they had 11 in the 1st half, and just 4 in the 2nd), and got the Heat perimeter players firing.
Yes, Playoff Jimmy struck once again as Jimmy Butler finished with a game-high 35 PTS, 5 REB, 6 AST, and had a career-high 6 STLs (literally anytime the Celtics passed the ball near the guy, he’d pick it off) and was the key facilitator that got the Heat offense running (as usual), but the perimeter players had their best performance of the playoffs yet.
Not only did the Heat shoot an astounding 46-85 from the field (54.1%) and 16-31 from the 3-point line (51.6%), but six players scored at least 15 points.
Whether it was Gabe Vincent (15 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK), Caleb Martin (15 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 2 STLs, 1 BLK), Kyle Lowry (15 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK), or Max Stus (15 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST) with the ball for a corner 3, they all went down.
And, with Bam Adebayo (20 PTS, 8 REB, 5 AST, 1 STL) and Kevin Love (8 PTS, 6 REB, 1 STL) providing 28 PTS 14 REB, 5 AST, and 1 STL from their forward positions, it was inevitable the Heat would get their mojo back and go on a run as the Celtics lulled about in the 3rd quarter.
Now, I didn’t expect them to nearly score 50 points in a SINGLE QUARTER and route the Celtics 46-25 to ice the game, but I did expect them to win after they Celtics came out of their locker room looking like they just ran a 30-mile marathon. As the Bulls, Bucks, and Knicks know, you can’t give this Heat team even a sliver of hope as they’ll carve you open and fill you with 16-made 3’s like it’s nothing.
And, with Jimmy Butler being the best postseason player these last two years (I know Steph won the Finals MVP, but Butler was sensational for the Heat), the Heat were able to hold onto a 123-116 win as Jayson Tatum’s painful turnovers late (he traveled on back-to-back possessions to close out the game!) ended the game.
So, if you’re a Heat fan, you can pretty much watch Game 2 without any fear as the Heat have gotten the win in Boston they needed to take back to Miami. Reversely, the Celtics really do have to win tomorrow night’s game at TD Garden or else this series could be finished up quick as the Heat are almost impossible to beat on home court.
Still, with the Celtics actually winning 3/4 quarters in that game (you’d never think it by how they played in the 3rd), I’m confident they still have a great chance of advancing through to the NBA Finals. They were mindbogglingly awful from the 3-point line and free throw line as they only shot 10-29 (34.5%) and 22-29 (72.5%), respectively.
Again, I highly doubt the Celtics will be so woeful from beyond the arc and the free throw line again, but they have to improve their 3-point shooting dramatically or shutdown the Heat players as this series will get away from them quickly.
We really do have a great series on our hands…and not one that’s so heavily lopsided as the brainless oddsmakers would have us believe.
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