No problem. Try not to lose sight of the fact the Heat earned both series wins against Bucks and Knicks. For them to beat Boston, they'll have to do the same, earn it. Celtics fans are poo pooing Heat's chances. They are looking past Miami to their next championship. Most are predicting 5 game (Gentleman's) sweep. For example:
"CelticFanOnly Celtics in 5 and then an all timer vs Denver"
Greek Freak's injury is an excuse! We beat the Bucks because they were outcoached, because they choked twice in a row when leading by 16 points in the 4th quarter AND most importantly, because Jimmy and the Heat didn't quit fighting!!! In Game 4 the Greek Freak scored 38 points and had 20 rebounds . In Game 5 he had a triple double (26/10/15). By the way, Herro and Oladipo were injured, so there's that too. Quit making excuses!!!
All I can say is that Miami has absolutely nothing to lose. On the other hand, if Boston doesn't win this series, the coach is getting fired and somebody in their core group is getting traded. Jus sayin.
I don't often ask for much, but perhaps a flare-up of Robert Williams's knee would be very helpful. Nothing career threatening, mind you. That is the Celtic's softest underbelly.
Wednesday is finally here for us.Game 1 vs.the beamers from Boston.Let us hope that Jimmy and his dudes have licked their wounds and are healthy.The national pundits give us almost no chance of winning and the refs.traditionally are afraid of the fans in Boston plus the fact that the refs.have been quite partial to any opponent of the heat in the past so don't expect any help from them in this series.The past 2 series have shown that the refs.and Secaucus are partial to our opponents and look at the outcomes of them.The bucks were the best of the NBA in regular season.The Knicks r the home darlings of the league and look what our gritty dudes pulled off.We love our heaters and trust in Pat and spo.to come up with a game plan to slow down the thugs from beantown and their rookie coach. Go heat go.
I think for Miami to win, they'll have to heat back up from downtown. They beat the Knicks with stellar defense (and some just flat awful play from New York). But they missed too many open looks. If they aren't hitting the open shots against Boston, you can write Miami off pretty easily in my eyes.
I hope they keep proving me wrong, but I think the Celtics this year are more talented than the Celtics last year (largely due to the addition of Brogdon), and I don't think Miami is matching up with them in a long series.
That said the 3% ESPN model and overall lack of a chance that the world is giving Miami is kind of hilarious. This team is clearly different than the squad from the regular season. Add to that the Hawks pushed them to 6, you would think Miami is on paper a better team than the Hawks who made it somewhat competitive.
No doubt it's going to be a tall order for the Heat to take down the Celtics but I believe they have a better shot at accomplishing it than all the so called "experts" are giving them credit for.
I think the keys to doing this will come down to holding their own on the glass, winning the turnover battle. shooting 36% from 3 or better, Increasing the mins for the bench unit, allowing Haywood Highsmith some mins to defend Tatum and increasing the playing time of Caleb Martin.
Holding their own on the glass and turning the Celtics over will allow the Heat to get out in transition and get easy baskets while taking possessions away from the Celtics. It will also help in them controlling the pace of the game.
Good 3 point shooting from the Heat's starters Love, Strus and Vincent will be a major key in them counteracting the effectiveness of the Celtic's big lineup and will go along way in helping to unleash Bam's and Jimmy's inside games.
Something people don't realize is that the Heat has had the best bench in the playoffs so far in terms of plus-minus.
They've not been given any credit for being a deep team but you can't have the best bench in the playoffs without being a deep team.
It has been the Heat's secret weapon in winning both the Bucks and Knicks series.
They used their top seeded bench to wear down the opposition and by the 4th quarters the opposition were running on fumes from overplaying their starters. Which in turn allowed the Heat's starters to be fresher down the stretch to take over games.
The deep bench along with Jimmy has been a big reason why the Heat have been the playoffs best 4th quarter team.
However the Celtics too have a deep bench, they are 2nd in plus-minus behind the Heat's bench in the playoffs.
If the Heat's secret weapon is neutralized then this could be a short series in the Celtic's favor but if the Heat's bench can continue to win those mins then it could allow the Heat to stay close enough for Jimmy to take over in 4th quarters.
Haywood Highsmith was a major factor in the Heat's 2 victories against the Celtics during the regular season. He averaged over 29 mins in both games, was a +12 in plus-minus and his defense on Tatum played a role in the Heat winning both those games.
Obviously he won't average 28 mins per game in this series and you ideally don't want him on the floor when the Celtics deploy their big lineup but giving Highsmith 8-10 mins per game to hound Jason Tatum could go along way in helping to tip the series in the Heat's favor.
Caleb Martin has quietly been one of the Heat's most impactful players in the playoffs so far, leading not just the Heat but leading the entire playoff field in plus-minus per 100 poss.
However he's only been averaging just over 27 mins per game for the playoffs so far and although that has sufficed up to this point I think for the Heat to have any chance of upsetting the Celtics IMO this has to change.
I believe Caleb needs to average over 35 mins per game for the Heat to have any chance of winning this series.
Theres also the fact that Bam and Jimmy have played their best ball together in the playoffs when Caleb Martin has shared the floor with them.
Let Strus defend Horford and Love defend Williams and make Bam and Highsmith the primary defenders on Tatum and Jimmy and Caleb the primary defenders on Brown, with those guys playing as much straight up man to man defense as possible.
These are the keys IMO to the Heat winning this series.
I'm giving a lot of side-eye to "Celtics have a championship pedigree." The last time the Celtics won a championship, Nikola Jovic was practically still in diapers. Miami's won *two* titles since then. We have more players with rings than they do: Lowry, Love, Haslem, and the ghost of Mario Chalmers. Surely, if championship pedigree is a factor, it should lean in Miami's favor?
I respect the prediction even if you are writing for HHH. Very realistic. But im going for Heat in 7. That Boston championship pedigree is because of history. Heat has 3 major personnel who got rings. KLove, Lowry, and of course Spo. Not even counting UD. I'm just hoping Heat find their shooting touch like the Bucks series. This will be a harder match up but nothing these Heat dogs will back out from. I guess they relish on these challenges. Hope that Butler ankle is good to go after a long rest. Cross fingers they take game 1.
Thank u Sun Man for the pull up.I love our team and lost sight of the real deal my friend.
No problem. Try not to lose sight of the fact the Heat earned both series wins against Bucks and Knicks. For them to beat Boston, they'll have to do the same, earn it. Celtics fans are poo pooing Heat's chances. They are looking past Miami to their next championship. Most are predicting 5 game (Gentleman's) sweep. For example:
"CelticFanOnly Celtics in 5 and then an all timer vs Denver"
I was wrong.hate myself for that.just my own lil pipe dream.Actually we beat Milwaukee because of injury to Greek probably.
Greek Freak's injury is an excuse! We beat the Bucks because they were outcoached, because they choked twice in a row when leading by 16 points in the 4th quarter AND most importantly, because Jimmy and the Heat didn't quit fighting!!! In Game 4 the Greek Freak scored 38 points and had 20 rebounds . In Game 5 he had a triple double (26/10/15). By the way, Herro and Oladipo were injured, so there's that too. Quit making excuses!!!
prob true but injuries are part of sports though.greek ez to defend.build a wall make him a jump shooter.spos wall keeps greeks from layups
All I can say is that Miami has absolutely nothing to lose. On the other hand, if Boston doesn't win this series, the coach is getting fired and somebody in their core group is getting traded. Jus sayin.
GO HEAT!!!
I love getting opposing coaches on the hot seat.Riley and spo.dont play that stupid game.gooo heaters.
5050 series look at past 3 years what has happened sun man
go heat yes mazula fired y tatum brown traded doubt it unless they want to send them to so beach
Great post sun man.
I don't often ask for much, but perhaps a flare-up of Robert Williams's knee would be very helpful. Nothing career threatening, mind you. That is the Celtic's softest underbelly.
i hope r will is healthy never wish injuries on our opponents.30.
Yeah, I know what we are supposed to say.
It would be great if we have a repeat of the Kevin Love Giannis play with one of the stars of the Celtics.
Are we serious with this shit?
When you don't really believe in your team.
heat fans want the celtics 100% so theyll be no excuses when u guys lose to us
That doesn't appear to be true.
I had a mental slip.sorry sir.
1 fan said that mayhem.30s a good heat fan but shouldnt have said that.
Appearances can be deceiving. Don't be a pot calling the kettle black, mayhem 24.
Stay classy Miami.
Go Heat, Go. Spoil us some more!
Wednesday is finally here for us.Game 1 vs.the beamers from Boston.Let us hope that Jimmy and his dudes have licked their wounds and are healthy.The national pundits give us almost no chance of winning and the refs.traditionally are afraid of the fans in Boston plus the fact that the refs.have been quite partial to any opponent of the heat in the past so don't expect any help from them in this series.The past 2 series have shown that the refs.and Secaucus are partial to our opponents and look at the outcomes of them.The bucks were the best of the NBA in regular season.The Knicks r the home darlings of the league and look what our gritty dudes pulled off.We love our heaters and trust in Pat and spo.to come up with a game plan to slow down the thugs from beantown and their rookie coach. Go heat go.
I think for Miami to win, they'll have to heat back up from downtown. They beat the Knicks with stellar defense (and some just flat awful play from New York). But they missed too many open looks. If they aren't hitting the open shots against Boston, you can write Miami off pretty easily in my eyes.
I hope they keep proving me wrong, but I think the Celtics this year are more talented than the Celtics last year (largely due to the addition of Brogdon), and I don't think Miami is matching up with them in a long series.
That said the 3% ESPN model and overall lack of a chance that the world is giving Miami is kind of hilarious. This team is clearly different than the squad from the regular season. Add to that the Hawks pushed them to 6, you would think Miami is on paper a better team than the Hawks who made it somewhat competitive.
No doubt it's going to be a tall order for the Heat to take down the Celtics but I believe they have a better shot at accomplishing it than all the so called "experts" are giving them credit for.
I think the keys to doing this will come down to holding their own on the glass, winning the turnover battle. shooting 36% from 3 or better, Increasing the mins for the bench unit, allowing Haywood Highsmith some mins to defend Tatum and increasing the playing time of Caleb Martin.
Holding their own on the glass and turning the Celtics over will allow the Heat to get out in transition and get easy baskets while taking possessions away from the Celtics. It will also help in them controlling the pace of the game.
Good 3 point shooting from the Heat's starters Love, Strus and Vincent will be a major key in them counteracting the effectiveness of the Celtic's big lineup and will go along way in helping to unleash Bam's and Jimmy's inside games.
Something people don't realize is that the Heat has had the best bench in the playoffs so far in terms of plus-minus.
They've not been given any credit for being a deep team but you can't have the best bench in the playoffs without being a deep team.
It has been the Heat's secret weapon in winning both the Bucks and Knicks series.
They used their top seeded bench to wear down the opposition and by the 4th quarters the opposition were running on fumes from overplaying their starters. Which in turn allowed the Heat's starters to be fresher down the stretch to take over games.
The deep bench along with Jimmy has been a big reason why the Heat have been the playoffs best 4th quarter team.
However the Celtics too have a deep bench, they are 2nd in plus-minus behind the Heat's bench in the playoffs.
If the Heat's secret weapon is neutralized then this could be a short series in the Celtic's favor but if the Heat's bench can continue to win those mins then it could allow the Heat to stay close enough for Jimmy to take over in 4th quarters.
Haywood Highsmith was a major factor in the Heat's 2 victories against the Celtics during the regular season. He averaged over 29 mins in both games, was a +12 in plus-minus and his defense on Tatum played a role in the Heat winning both those games.
Obviously he won't average 28 mins per game in this series and you ideally don't want him on the floor when the Celtics deploy their big lineup but giving Highsmith 8-10 mins per game to hound Jason Tatum could go along way in helping to tip the series in the Heat's favor.
Caleb Martin has quietly been one of the Heat's most impactful players in the playoffs so far, leading not just the Heat but leading the entire playoff field in plus-minus per 100 poss.
However he's only been averaging just over 27 mins per game for the playoffs so far and although that has sufficed up to this point I think for the Heat to have any chance of upsetting the Celtics IMO this has to change.
I believe Caleb needs to average over 35 mins per game for the Heat to have any chance of winning this series.
Theres also the fact that Bam and Jimmy have played their best ball together in the playoffs when Caleb Martin has shared the floor with them.
Let Strus defend Horford and Love defend Williams and make Bam and Highsmith the primary defenders on Tatum and Jimmy and Caleb the primary defenders on Brown, with those guys playing as much straight up man to man defense as possible.
These are the keys IMO to the Heat winning this series.
So in the immortal words of the Black-eyed Peas.
Lets get it started.
Go Heat!
I'm giving a lot of side-eye to "Celtics have a championship pedigree." The last time the Celtics won a championship, Nikola Jovic was practically still in diapers. Miami's won *two* titles since then. We have more players with rings than they do: Lowry, Love, Haslem, and the ghost of Mario Chalmers. Surely, if championship pedigree is a factor, it should lean in Miami's favor?
I respect the prediction even if you are writing for HHH. Very realistic. But im going for Heat in 7. That Boston championship pedigree is because of history. Heat has 3 major personnel who got rings. KLove, Lowry, and of course Spo. Not even counting UD. I'm just hoping Heat find their shooting touch like the Bucks series. This will be a harder match up but nothing these Heat dogs will back out from. I guess they relish on these challenges. Hope that Butler ankle is good to go after a long rest. Cross fingers they take game 1.
From the heart manilla.love your posts.