Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade battled Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics in the playoffs on a number of occasions throughout his tenure with the Heat.
The Heat and Celtics met for three straight years from 2010 through 2012, with Miami taking two of those series and Boston winning one.
Boston’s three former stars were seen celebrating not that long ago when the Celtics hung their 2024 championship banner prior to the team’s season opener against the New York Knicks on Oct. 22, and Wade admitted that he was envious of Pierce, Allen and Garnett from afar.
“I spoke to the team too,” Wade said of his message to the current iteration to the team. “You heard me. A house divided will not stand. I wanna be a part of winning. I ain’t gonna even lie to you guys — and this is goin’ offbeat — I was jealous watchin’ the Boston Celtics the other night, ’cause I saw KG and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen out there. I know Ray here. But I was like, ‘Man, I wanna be that guy. I wanna be the old guy to come back with the team winnin’ a championship.’ And so, it’s important for me to set that example and be that example, but not to be the only one.”
Wade saw his former team — the Heat — come close to winning it all not that long ago. Miami became just the second No. 8 seed to reach the NBA Finals when it represented the Eastern Conference in the championship series in 2023. The Heat seemed like they were out of gas for much of the NBA Finals though, as Miami was eliminated in a gentleman’s sweep by a Denver Nuggets team that was led by Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
But 2023 isn’t the only year that the Heat have reached the NBA Finals since the start of the decade. Miami also made a Finals run at the start of the decade in 2020, which marked Jimmy Butler’s first season with the team and Tyler Herro’s rookie campaign.
The Heat will try to win their fourth title in franchise history in 2025 and redeem themselves for what was a subpar stint in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. For the first time since 2021, Miami was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, as the team lost to the Celtics in five games.
Miami got off to a shaky start to the 2024-25 regular season, considering the team got blown out by the Orlando Magic in its season opener on Oct. 23. But the Heat have a record of 1-1 in light of their victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Oct. 26, and they can get above the .500 mark on the season with a win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday night.