What a swing between the first three and last five quarters in the series.
Heat were trailing by as many as 34 in Game 1 but hit a late run to cut it to as little as 14, and did so without Jimmy Butler, who sat the game out.
Miami was without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier again tonight, but made a franchise playoff record 23 three pointers. Herro was 6 of 11 from three & Bam Adebayo had 21 and 10.
The series now moves back to Miami and just got a little more interesting. With Butler out for the entire series and the odds stacked against Miami shooting this well again, I don't think Miami is able to pull it off, but they could take it to six and make things a little tougher than the Celtics would like as they look to head into the next round.
It’s really amazing that there are so many guys that can really play in this league. You’d think not having Butler and Rozier against the Celtics on the road would equal a double digit loss. But then the Heat put up a performance like this. Plus they’ve got a fabulous head coach in Spoelstra, I’d take him over anybody in the league.
A little off topic, but Herro’s performance last night reminded me once again of how incredible it is how many ex-UK guys are not just in the league, but among the absolute elite players. AD, SGA, Booker, Fox, Julius, Bam, Monk, Quickley, Maxey, Herro, KAT, plus a dozen more that are at least solid contributors. Seven all-stars this year, out of 24 players. No wonder we’ve won so many NCAA tournament games recently. Oh. Oops.
And of course I completely forgot to mention Jamal Murray, who is one of the elite finishers in all of basketball. Gets overshadowed by Joker, but when he’s healthy, he’s a terror.
(04-25-2024, 11:26 AM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]And of course I completely forgot to mention Jamal Murray, who is one of the elite finishers in all of basketball. Gets overshadowed by Joker, but when he’s healthy, he’s a terror.
Have always been a huge Murray fan. He is so smooth.
Being a Celtics fan, I'm not going to lie I was worried about facing Miami in the first round, especially with the run they had last year, defeating the 1 seed Milwaukee, and Boston in the eastern conference finals. Even without Jimmy Butler & Terry Rozier, heat culture is indeed a real thing, and what they've been able to accomplish is incredible. Spo is one of the best coaches of all time, level headed, that staff and organization gets the best out of their players, doesn't hurt to still have 2 formidable guys like Herro & Bam. Boston hasn't been in many close games this season, that has definitely been the worry heading into the playoffs. This team has the pedigree, and experience to make it to The Finals, they've done it before, but playoff basketball is 1000x different than regular season, every possession matters. I was wanting a sweep, but looking back at the series these 2 teams have had in the past, this is shaping up to be another great one.