The Heat won against the Celtics, which was an outcome that no one could have imagined.
Eighth in the East and first in the East, Butler was injured, the Heat did not have a "playoff JB", played on the road, and lost the first game by 20 points, but the final score was 111-101, and the Heat defeated the Green Army, rewriting the overall score to 1-1 and regaining the home advantage in the playoffs. Every time we watch the Heat's playoffs, no matter what their regular season record is, whether their stars have injuries or not, we expect a miracle to happen, and it happens.
We all say that the Heat are "hard" because no matter how badly they fall or how badly injured, they can always climb out of a desperate situation.
But "hard" isn't all there is to the Heat. Generally speaking, hard is more like recklessness, breaking ten thousand methods with force, but the "hardness" of the heat also brings ingenuity. They have the willpower to beat the league and the wisdom to see through each other's cards and respond.
The Heat won the second game with the Green Army, which was a combination of hard and skill, a precise revenge, a gorgeous performance by Coach Spo, and a battle for Herro's name.
The Green teamed 22 three-pointers in the first game to tie the team's all-time playoff record, and the Heat made 23 three-pointers in the second game, shooting a staggering 53.5%, breaking the team's all-time record, and the last time they made 20 three-pointers in a single playoff game was against the Bucks in 2020, when they made 20.
If only one or two players made a three-pointer, we can consider it an up-and-down feeling, but the nine Heat players on the court, except for Adebayo and Love on the inside, all of the others shot three-pointers, Herro was 6 of 11, Martin was 5 of 6, Jovic, who played poorly in the last game, was 3 of 4 in this game, and Highsmith was 3 of 5 on the bench.
It was a tactical victory. First, the Heat seized the space left by Boshen after the block, and no longer tried to break through, but chose to shoot directly;
The Green Army's Boshen was not a god at all, scoring 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting in the first game, and only 6 points on 1-of-9 shooting in the second game, with only 2 turnovers on the data sheet, but at least half of the 12 turnovers of the Green Army team came to him with passes.
The playoffs are turn-based, with the Green Army dealing cards first, the Heat playing cards again, and the coach's ability to adjust is vividly displayed. The Green Army tried to play to Boshen's strengths with misalignment, but the Heat seized the opportunity to limit Boshen's receiving in the high post by going around the front, allowing him to enter the low post back-to-back single, which was Boshen's offensive blind spot.
Green coach Mazzulla did not respond to this. They're like they're trying to get their groove, and they're obsessively stuffed and squandered chances, which they can do in the regular season but are punished in the playoffs. When Boshen can't pull up space in the high post, the Green Army's offensive system is more than half useless, and can only rely on the play of star players.
Tatum said at 1-0 that he would have to play more physically with the Heat, and the Green Army succeeded, but the second game gave the Heat players a huge amount of space and failed to wear down the opponent on both offensive and defensive ends.
It's an old problem for the Greens, and they did that in the regular season. The Green Army were the team that made the fewest turnovers against the opposition, averaging just 13.3 turnovers per game. They don't steal easily on the defensive end, don't foul easily, and try not to let the opponent make free throws, but the flaw is poor aggression;
Martin, Jovic and Highsmith were still alive and well at the end, they weren't tired, and their three-point shooting accuracy came up.
Herro's outburst reminds us of Butler. Aside from the absence of back-to-back singles in the final moments, Herro's performance throughout the game was very similar to that of Butler over the past few seasons.
The Green Army's defense of Herro is actually targeted, the Heat do not have Butler and Rozier, and only Herro has the ability to hold the ball alone. In the first game, the Green Army pinched Hiro, preventing throws but not breaking through, allowing Hiro to passively be the terminator. As a result, Herro wanted to score too much to open up the situation, and frequently hit the basket, but instead went back with a big defeat, only 11 points and four assists on 4-of-13 shooting.
But Herro adjusted very quickly, like Butler, he chose to create scoring opportunities instead of simply scoring for the sake of scoring, playing the responsibility of holding the ball, constantly playing blocking and dismantling with Adebayo, and quickly splitting the ball once he encountered a pinch, and got 14 assists in the game, plus 6 of 11 three-pointers, and also shot 13 baskets, this time he scored 24 points and 14 assists.
After the miracle, no one can ignore the Heat, and no one can ignore Spo. If Butler is the Heat's playoff myth, then Spo is the creator of the myth.
Suddenly, the Greens' 64-win streak in the regular season was gone. We think about the Heat's past again. In the 2019-20 season, the Heat finished sixth in the East, beating the Pacers, Bucks and Green all the way to the finals;
Let's recall the Heat's madness last season.
In the first round of the Eastern Conference, the Heat defeated the Bucks 4-1 and staged the Black Eight Miracle; in the second round of the Eastern Conference, the Heat and the Knicks fought hand-to-hand and advanced 4-2; in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat led 3-0 but were chased by the Celtics to the limit. In the sixth game, with 3 seconds left, Butler hit all three free throws to take a one-point lead, but at the last moment, White staged a stunner. From 3-0 to 3-3, the desperate Heat once again fought back to the limit, and the away team almost crushed the Green Army with a devastating momentum.
Starting with the 2019-20 season, this is the fourth round of playoff meetings between the Heat and the Celtics. In 2020, the Heat defeated the Green Army 4-2 in the park, in the 2021-22 season, the Green Army defeated the Heat 4-3 in the Eastern Conference Finals, and in the 2022-23 season, the Heat staged the Black Eight Miracle. The two sides have played 22 games in the past five years, and the Heat have a 12-10 lead.
When the overall score becomes 1-1, can the Heat be able to black eight again?
There is no doubt that in terms of willpower, the "hardness" of the Heat is better than that of the Green Army, but the playoffs are an all-round competition, in this matchup, the Green Army must not only restrain the Heat's cards, they will have to find a way to restrain Herro on the road, but also need to play new hole cards, on the offensive end, they need Tatum and Brown to stand up in the fourth quarter, and they need to make better use of Boshen.
Tatum's post-game answer was a bit philosophical, "[The series between the Green Army and the Heat] will never go the way people expect it to, but that's the beauty of it."
But to regain face, he and the Greens will have to respond on the pitch.