Despite their inability to complete a sweep of the Boston Celtics during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Kaseya Center on Tuesday, the Miami Heat find themselves with a golden opportunity to punch their NBA Finals ticket with a Game 5 win on Thursday.
Even as the Heat hold a 3-1 lead over Jayson Tatum and Co. amid the series’ resumption in Boston, there are pundits and hoops fans out there that continue to look at the eighth-seeded squad as the underdog in the matchup. When asked about that phenomenon during Miami’s Thursday shootaround, head coach Erik Spoelstra made it clear that he’s not sweating the naysayers.
“We don’t give a s—,” said Spoelstra of those that continue to doubt his team. “I’m trying to compete out there. It’s a great opportunity, and our guys love these kind of challenges, love to compete, love the playoffs and love playing in an environment like this. This is what it’s about.”
Clearly, history is on the Heat’s side as no team in the history of the Association has managed to come back from a 3-0 series deficit, and it has been a full 20 years since a team has even forced a Game 7 after having ceded the first three games of a playoff series.
That team — the 2003 Portland Trail Blazers — lost 107-95 to Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and a third-seeded Dallas Mavericks squad in a Game 7 at American Airlines Center after having taken three straight games to knot their Western Conference quarterfinal matchup.
In this particular instance, one could probably be forgiven for overlooking the Heat in spite of their commanding series lead. After all, Miami posted a ho-hum 44-38 record during the regular season, entered postseason play at the bottom of the East’s bracket and benefited from Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury during its Round 1 upset of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Heat are also running at a deficit in the injury department, with Tyler Herro (broken hand) and Victor Oladipo (torn patellar tendon) out of commission for the foreseeable future and starting point guard Gabe Vincent (ankle sprain) having been scratched as a participant for Game 5.
Over the first four games between the Heat and the Celtics, Vincent averaged 17.5 points while connecting on 57.9 percent of his shot attempts overall and an even 50.0 percent of his tries from three-point range.