Miami Heat Playing ‘5 On 8’ With Celtics And Officials
The Miami Heat gutted out a win in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Boston Celtics. With no Jimmy Butler in the lineup for the final two periods, the Miami Heat really had to show what they are made of.
On top of that though, they not only had to beat the five Celtics players that were on the floor at any given time of the game, but they also had to beat three extra guys that seemed to be rooting for the other team—the officials.
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Though the officiating is rarely consistent, it was especially inconsistent in Game 3. To make that point, there are a couple of noteworthy instances.
The first is a Bam Adebayo foul on Marcus Smart early in the game. It was the play where Smart elbowed Bam Adebayo in the face, though organically as it occurred within Smart’s natural shooting motion.
That was a very questionable call, one where they usually call the offensive foul. The officials in Game 2 of the Warriors and Mavericks series actually did call a very similar play an offensive foul on Friday night, a layup attempt by Spencer Dinwiddie.