The Miami Heat came into Game 2 of their NBA Eastern Conference Finals matchup off a really good win in Game 1. Allowing the Celtics to get off to a blistering start, they would then come back and win the game going the other direction.
Surely, they wouldn’t allow the same thing to happen in Game 2, that being putting themselves in a massive hole to climb out of, right? Well, not quite, as they started out the game going up pretty good on the Celtics, nearly or right at double-digits.
Then, the Celtics turned it on and never turned it off. The Boston Celtics continuously made shots, as they did in the first half of Game 1.
This time though, it lasted for much of the entirety of the game. The Miami Heat made a push midway through the third period, but upon allowing the starters a break to close the period, the Celtics turned it back on again to pull away.
The Miami Heat got their doors blown off Thursday night and that’s the truth. However, their errors can be fixed and they’d better be before Saturday.
Finishing 20-40 from three-point territory, it’ll always be hard to beat a team letting it go with that type of marksmanship.
Some will point to the return of Al Horford and Marcus Smart, or at least one of the two returnees. However, it wasn’t purely or overly about either of their presences in the contest as much as it was the tale of two opposite sides.
The Boston Celtics made almost everything, literally. While the Miami Heat struggled to make shots, in general, while they didn’t do themselves any favors by not getting to team-friendly easy baskets as they should and could have.
Yes, there are a few other auxiliary bullet points that can and should be tweaked. Jimmy Butler could have pressed the issue from the very onset offensively, which he needs to certainly do moving forward.
Somehow and someway, you need more from Bam Adebayo as well. You just have to get more from him.
It was never going to be easy, as this is the Eastern Conference Finals, but the Miami Heat would be best served to not make trying to win this hard either. Now, they have to get one in Boston.
It sounds simple, but won’t be. But then again, it’s really just that simple.
They are capable and after having their doors blown off like this, they should be amped to do just that.