The Miami Heat entered Saturday’s Game 3 contest up 2-0, but left up only 2-1. Here are three takeaways from the game.
The Miami Heat entered Saturday’s Game 3 up 2-0 in their Eastern Conference Finals playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, they left the contest up only 2-1 in the series.
This game was uncharacteristic of any game that the Miami Heat have played during this playoff run. It wasn’t back and forth in nature and it wasn’t close for the most part.
The Miami Heat got beat like a drum from the opening tip. That is just where we will start with our keys takeaways though.
They Have To Activate Earlier
Throughout this series, the Miami Heat have waited until the second half to come alive. Unlike the previous two games of this series where they seemed to ignite in the period immediately after the halftime break, it wasn’t until the fourth quarter on Saturday and ultimately, too late.
As we stated after Game 2 of this series though, that isn’t a sustainable way to win this series or further in the playoffs and even with them coming alive in the third quarter. They must find a way to get going in the first half somehow, as digging themselves a hole to climb out of will get them beat in Game 4 and beyond.
The Miami Heat have to find a way to get things moving offensively before they are down big. The next key might help there too.
The Miami Heat got beat on Saturday, but there were a few clearly defined reasons why.
Jimmy Butler Must Get Going Early
Jimmy Butler has infamously and rather publicly put the fact out there that he doesn’t feel the need to look for his shot until the second half of games. This is not only to get his teammates involved, but also to show them that he can impact the game massively in other ways.
The problem is this, the Miami Heat need offense from him much earlier and often than he has given it in this series. That may help them get off to better starts earlier in games.
Three Point Shooting
This isn’t a need to do better as typically, the Miami Heat are good from deep this season. On Saturday though, they just weren’t falling with regularity and not at all it seems if your name wasn’t Tyler Herro early or Duncan Robinson really late.
The Miami Heat shot 12-44 or 27.3 percent from deep on Saturday. That typically doesn’t happen.
We expect the Miami Heat to be better on Wednesday when they next play and it should go a long way towards helping the Miami Heat get back on the right side of the ending results in Game 4.
The Miami Heat weren’t going to sweep the Boston Celtics, at least I didn’t think so coming into this series, but they do look like the better team when they put it all together. With a few days off and a little attention to the details mentioned above, they should be fine moving forward.
The work still has to be put in though, as the Boston Celtics now have life. We look forward to Game 4 on Wednesday to see if Miami have somewhat and somehow addressed these things mentioned.