Miami Heat in familiar place after loss to Boston Celtics
BOSTON – The simple truth is there is no simple for the 2022-23 Miami Heat.
Instead, it’s losing to the Atlanta Hawks in the first of two play-in games and then overcoming a late-fourth quarter deficit against the Chicago Bulls in the second to barely advance in the playoffs.
Then it’s fighting back from back-to-back fourth-quarter deficits to advance past the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
And then it’s withstanding otherworldly performances from Jalen Brunson to push past the New York Knicks in the second round.
So thoughts of a sweep of the Boston Celtics in these Eastern Conference finals largely was little more than fantasy of fool’s gold.
Instead, now heading into Thursday’s 8:30 p.m. Game 5 against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in this best-of-seven series, the Heat find themselves in their wheelhouse.
Pressure mounting . . . in what has stood as a pressure cooker of a season.
“If anything,” forward Jimmy Butler said of Tuesday night’s 116-99 loss to the Celtics at Kaseya Center, “it will build momentum for us knowing that we have to play with a lot more energy. We’ve got to play like our backs are against the wall. But I think all year long, we’ve been better when we’ve had to do things the hard way.”
While backs are not firmly against the wall, with a Game 6 on Saturday night at Kaseya Center, if necessary, it is high-risk game when a No. 8 seed allows a No. 2 to gain momentum, something the Heat precluded after their lone misstep against the top-seeded Bucks in the first round.
“The only thing I’m going to say is, We’ll be okay,” Butler said. “Let’s get back to doing what we’ve always done to get us to this point – continually have belief in one another, knowing that we are going to win, and we will. We’ve just got to play harder.
“There’s not too much to say with this group because we already know. So we’ve just got to go out there and execute.”
Despite winning the first two games of the series at TD Garden, the Heat appreciate this latest challenge in Boston.
But they also appreciate who they are, and what’s at stake, with one more win delivering a trip to the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets starting June 1.
“This is right up our alley,” forward Caleb Martin said. “This is the way it goes for us and guys like us. Again, I think it’s only going to prepare us for the long run. This could be good for us.”
With the hope very much remaining a run deep into June.
“Really the biggest thing is put this one behind us and understand that we’ve got another one,” Martin said of Tuesday night’s loss. “That’s the good thing about having to go to four, is we have another one and have the opportunity to go play them at their place.
“So that’s the good thing about the position that we are in right now, is we have the opportunity and we just have to make sure we come correctly and take care of business in Boston.”
To coach Erik Spoelstra, just another challenge in a season of challenges.
“A lot of what we’ve done this year has been the hard way,” he said. “We’ve been able to figure out ways to win, even if teams are playing well, if we are not in a perfect flow.”
To Butler, it again will be about every last breath soon enough.
But not desperate times, he said.
So no need for desperate measures.
Just a return, he said, to what got the Heat up 3-0 against the Celtics, and past the Bucks and Knicks.
“Stay consistent,” he said. “Do the same thing that I do, that we do, after every game. We are going to listen to some music. We’re going to drink some beers back there. We are going to go have some wine.
“I don’t think that you can just focus on basketball all the time. You have to be able to get away from the game a little bit. Think about it, but at the end of the day, you fall back on your habits, how consistent you’re going to be. Myself and my teammates, we’re going to do the same thing. We’re going to smile. We’re going to be in this thing together like we always are, and we are going to go get one on the road.”
