The Miami Heat’s win over the Boston Celtics was very educational. Here are the three lessons it taught.
This team has the pieces around Jimmy to make a run
When you look at what this team did on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics, minus Jimmy Butler, they played on the same level as the Boston Celtics, who had a mostly healthy unit. That would be good with Jimmy in the lineup, but it is great without him.
With the way that the game happened, save for a few mistakes that Jimmy could be the difference on, and even when accounting for the tremendous amount of talent that the Boston Celtics have on their roster, the Miami Heat actually severely outplayed them on Tuesday. That’s just being honest.
Basically, what this is to say is that the Miami Heat have the necessary talent around Jimmy to make a deep run in the playoffs and potentially beyond, who knows? If this is what they can do without him, then they can do at least that much and a half with him. I can’t be convinced otherwise.
Spo is indeed a top 5 coach in the league
This isn’t really a new thing for us here, as we have always known and believed this. For those that are either new here, didn’t know, or simply refused to believe, take this for example.
You would have to weigh the hype by the pound if you were taking inventory of all of it that has been and continues to be heaped upon Brad Stevens. Not that he’s not a good coach, but Erik Spoelstra coached circles around him on Tuesday.
When Stevens zigged to counter Spoelstra, Spo already had his guys ready to beat it. Take this specifically, as the Celtics went to a zone late in the game, Spo already had Bam ready to alter his setup on the high post catch at either corner of the free-throw line.
As opposed to being practically heads up with the rim and right where the zone would want him, he was facing the basket from the vantage of the wing, allowing him to penetrate the zone, force a collapse, and find Duncan Robinson for a good deep look. That one may have not gone down, but plenty of the same types of action led to knock down shots for the Miami Heat all afternoon.
That’s just one example of this phenomenon at work, but it happened quite a bit. In totality and to settle it though I can simply give you this, Stevens had a full roster, while Spo was without his best player. You do the math.