The Miami Heat really made the Boston Celtics work hard to knock them out of the NBA playoffs, taking them down to the wire of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals before bowing out.
Still, the Celtics may not have the proper respect for the Heat, as evidenced by something guard Marcus Smart said during Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
#Celtics Marcus Smart: "This isn't the Heat series." Facts. #NBAFinals #BOSvsGSpic.twitter.com/va9pNxLJF9
— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) June 3, 2022
Marcus Smart said this mic'd up, then the Celtics bigs started nailing the coverage on Curry: "This isn’t the Heat series. We can’t start back. We have to start up. Especially if they start so high, you start up then drop cause we’re chasing. Now he goes down into the paint.”
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) June 3, 2022
The Eastern Conference Finals started out positive for the Heat, as they erased a halftime deficit to take Game 1 118-107.
But the series as a whole was unpredictable and defined by wild swings of momentum from game to game and sometimes even quarter to quarter.
In Game 7, the Heat trailed big early, but they managed to trim their deficit somewhat by halftime. After Boston re-extended its lead somewhat in the third quarter, the Heat came to within two in the final seconds, but it was too little, too late.
A major culprit for Miami was its health or lack thereof. Point guard Kyle Lowry missed the first two contests of the series and was hampered the entire time with a hamstring problem, while Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro didn’t play in Games 4, 5 and 6.
Smart, the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year this season, was a big key to the Celtics’ triumph. He had 24 points, nine rebounds, 12 assists and three steals in their Game 2 blowout win. In Game 7, he posted 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists to help Boston eke its way into the championship series.
