On May 29, 2022, the Celtics defeated the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals to advance to the NBA Finals, and Butler missed that fate-changing three-pointer.
On May 29, 2023, it's another East final, another Celtic and Heat. It's just that this time the road to grabbing seven is beyond everyone's imagination, the Heat won three consecutive dream starts, and the Celtics chased three games straight to death.
There have been three such raid-breaks, and each time the team that started with a 3-0 lead won the series. The Heat today is no exception.
Although Tatum had a broken foot on the first attack in the opening game, the Celtics played well, and the Heat were tight and unable to score. The turning point came when his coach Mazura called a timeout, and the Celtics were preparing to make a switch, and Mazura said it was too late and a timeout snapped to interrupt.
It is rare enough to call a timeout when your own team is leading, and it is even more rare to interrupt your own team's conversion offense. It has to be said that Mazura has her own unique views on calling pauses and challenges.
However, the situation presented on the court was that the Heat beat the Celtics 12-1 after a timeout, directly turning the tide on the court. At the same time, the Celtics are caught in a three-point shooting circle.
They missed 12 consecutive three-pointers from the opening to the second quarter, and it wasn't until Horford hit his 13th shot to stop chasing the 18 Rockets (0-of-27). But when the Celtics made three-pointers, the Heat scored more than they did, always responding.
So today's time for the Heat to swing the joint defense is earlier, if you can't invest, I will swing the joint defense more reassuringly. The Heat completely dropped all interior lines except Adebayo today, and when Adebayo went off, the three-second zone was basically not standing.
When the Heat put on a Super Five lineup, the Celtics will still struggle with whether to hit the basket, and the poor start has affected their offensive choices. So trailing by 11 points at halftime is no surprise for the Celtics.
In the second half, when the Heat led by 16 points at one point, the Celtics' season was on the verge of ending, and White stepped up and scored eight straight points. In the third quarter, the Celtics were all on White alone. He made three-point and kills on the offensive end, repeatedly defended Adebayo on the defensive end, and dragged the double scout forward alone.
But White is not destined to be the one who saved the Celtics today, he has already saved once in Game 6, and you can't expect the Celtics to rely on White to save two games in a row. When Jaylen Brown committed an offensive foul and missed a goal in the fourth quarter, and when Butler hit a dunk to give the Heat a 17-point lead, the Celtics ended the season.
Brown played extremely badly today, even worse than all the games he played badly before. When he made his eighth turnover, the Heat had just seven turnovers.
Over the years, Jaylen Brown's routine has also been basically figured out by his opponents, which is to test your ability to handle the ball, and Brown rarely disappoints his opponents. Today, Brown scored just 19 points on 8-of-22 shooting, 1-of-8 three-pointers, and had eight turnovers.
In previous matches, when Brown pulled his crotch, Tatum stepped up to fix the problem. Brown doesn't make as many shots and has so many opportunities to handle the ball, and today Tatum himself is in deep pain from a sprained ankle.
Against the 76ers, Tatum easily reached an all-time high of 51 points. But we've stressed many times that the Heat and the 76ers are completely different teams. Coupled with Tatum's sprained ankle in the first opening game of the day, all the good fortune of the Celtics seemed to come to an abrupt end at that moment.
Tatum scored just 14 points on 13 shots today, his second-lowest shot in the playoffs this year, after seven shots before that, and the Celtics were a big win. The Celtics scored just 84 points, a new playoff low.
The Celtics' defense didn't really have much of a problem, the point is that their regular season offense was completely lost, and you can say that the Heat managed to limit the Celtics' offense to a worse level than they did, and then sent the Celtics home.
Of course, when a player like Martin scored 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting today, the Celtics didn't lose unjustly. Martin maintained accuracy for almost an entire series, which is extremely difficult for top stars, but Martin did.
In seven games, Martin has not shot 40% from three-point range, and today he is 4 of 6, and he can score all kinds of dry threes. In addition to the three-pointer, Martin today also included a variety of singles with the ball turned over and leaned back, took out the movements of Kobe and Maddie, and could score.
Today last year, Butler missed that three-pointer; A year later, Butler made three three-pointers today, and he accumulated energy for several games before finally being released in Game 7.
The first three games of the East Finals are the story of the dog's counterattack; The next three are stories of trying to be worthless in the face of talent; When it comes to robbing seven, it is the story of the self-helper.
In most cases, hard work may be worthless in the face of talent. But you must not give up hard work, only hard work can give you the opportunity to compete with talent, so that you can seize that opportunity to create miracles.
The tie-break did not happen miracles, and the Green Army failed to become the first team in history to come back 3-0. But don't forget that the Heat are still trailing from the final minute of Game 2 of the playoffs, and all the way from the No. 8 seed to the Finals is already an even bigger miracle.
Can the Heat continue to work wonders? I don't know, they are definitely still the side that is not favored, but what, this counterattack along the way is enough for the Heat to leave their mark on history.
Going back to the end of the regular season, the Heat were the league's lowest scoring average, ranking 27th in the league in rebounds, 25th in assists, 25th in offensive efficiency and 21st in net efficiency.
Now they are the only two teams in the league that are still alive, and the story of the lower dog continues.