Waiting game continues for conference finals-bound Heat, as Celtics-Raptors move to Game 7
After winning its second-round series Tuesday, the Miami Heat is still waiting to learn which team it will face in the Eastern Conference finals.
The fifth-seeded Heat will face the winner of the second-round series between the second-seeded Toronto Raptors and third-seeded Boston Celtics. The Raptors earned a 125-122 double-overtime win over the Celtics in Game 6 on Wednesday night to force a Game 7, which will be played Friday at 9 p.m.
The winner of Friday’s contest will advance to take on the Heat in the conference finals.
“We’re very confident,” Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler said Tuesday of the next series. “But we don’t want to be too confident. We know either way it goes, we’ve got a really good team that we’ve got to play against. But we still have to play our style of basketball. We’re not discouraged, we’re not scared, we’re not running from any matchups. I think that’s what makes us us.”
While the official schedule has not been released yet, the preliminary and tentative plan is for the East finals to begin Tuesday.
That would give the Heat a six-day break after it won its second-round series against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday to clinch its first conference finals appearance since 2014. In this scenario, the Raptors or Celtics would have a three-day gap between the end of their second-round series and the start of the conference finals.
“It just gets harder from here,” said Heat center Kelly Olynyk, who played in the conference finals as a member of the Celtics in 2017. “Obviously, they’re going to be super prepared, we’re going to be super prepared, and it’s going to be a grind. It’s going to be a real grind, and obviously it’s a little different being in the bubble rather than having to travel to say Boston or Toronto and play in front of an away crowd that is jacked up for a conference finals game. But it’s still going to be tough. It’s going to be really, really tough. But the coaches and everybody’s going to be prepared, and we’ll be prepared, as well.”
With Game 7 still to play, Game 6 was a double-overtime marathon for the Raptors and Celtics.
On Toronto’s side, OG Anunoby, Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet each logged 50 or more minutes Wednesday. For Boston, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker played more than 50 minutes apiece.
Eight players played 50 or more minutes in Game 6. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the most in a playoff game in NBA history.
Meanwhile, the Heat took Wednesday and Thursday off from practice.
“I want our guys to really reflect,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of reaching the conference finals. “The veteran players understand. This doesn’t happen every year. This doesn’t take away what we’re trying to do, what our purpose here is, what our ultimate goal is. But you can, particularly in a year like this, step back and acknowledge that making the Eastern Conference finals after all of these months is something worthy and we can enjoy it without taking away from our ultimate focus on what we’re trying to do.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ What’s the the most unique thing about the Heat’s current roster?
“How comfortable everybody is at any point of time in the game, however everybody knows what their role is, where they’re supposed to be on the floor, and what it takes to win,” Butler said. “I think we’ve been working on it all year long. And it’s showing. And you never know what role you’re going to have night in and night out.”
▪ Butler received criticism this past offseason for leaving a Philadelphia 76ers team that advanced to the second round of the playoffs to join a team that did not qualify for the playoffs last season. But in his first season with the Heat, he’s in the Eastern Conference finals and the 76ers were eliminated in the first round.
“You can’t help but to hear what people say,” Butler said when asked if making the conference finals validates his free agent decision to sign with Miami. “But that’s what the world is, people don’t mind their own business Everybody always got something to say. You can have your own opinion. But I did what I think is best for me, what’s best for these guys. And as long as I’m happy, those guys are happy. I’m content. So I don’t pay attention to what anybody says. I just try to live my life the best way I know how.”
▪ Spoelstra was asked following Tuesday’s series-clinching win how this trip to the conference finals compares to the four others he has been a part of as the Heat’s head coach.
“It’s just different. I don’t like to compare different teams,” Spoelstra said. “But we’ve had our hearts broken so many different times. You’re making me already think about the 2016 playoffs when we went to Game 7 against Toronto. We really thought we had a real legit opportunity that year to compete for a title, and we got beat in Game 7. Probably had an opportunity, but Toronto was great and they earned it. Look at me, I’m already thinking about that. Thinking about Philly two years ago when we had double-digit leads in Games 3 and 4. That’s the sickness of a head coach.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 9:06 AM.
