Getty Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat.
Wednesday night will mark the third time in four seasons that the Miami Heat will take on the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami earned a trip to the NBA Finals back in 2020, beating Boston in six games. Two years later, it was Boston who emerged, winning a Game 7 in Miami.
As the two sides prepare for the rubber match, many are trying to predict the outcome of the third meeting.
Unfortunately for the Heat, they’re on the receiving end of some serious disrespect. The official ESPN Twitter account tweeted a graphic on Monday morning, showing Miami as having just a 3% chance to win the series.
“The Miami Heat have a 3% chance of reaching the NBA Finals, according to ESPN Analytics,” the tweet read.
Though the Heat entered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, after falling to the Atlanta Hawks in their first Play-In Tournament game, they’re where they’re at for a reason.
In the opening round, Miami stunned the league-best Milwaukee Bucks, eliminating them in five games, after a pair of gritty comebacks fueled by massive performances by Jimmy Butler in Games 4 & 5.
Then in the next round, they took care of business against the No. 4 seeded New York Knicks, winning the series in six games. It was a round where the Heat controlled things almost the entire time. One of their two losses came in Game 2, while Butler, their best player, was sidelined with an ankle injury.
It’s not unfair to say Miami should be the underdog in the Eastern Conference Finals, but to give them just a 3% chance to win is pretty ludicrous.
RJ Barrett Thinks Knicks Could’ve Beaten Heat
Speaking of that Knicks series, after being eliminated in Game 6, RJ Barrett discussed Miami’s team. He touched on the experience and poise of the Heat, after taking some accountability for his 1-of-10 performance in the closeout game.
“They’re a very good team, very experienced, very poised, so, you know we can learn from that,” Barrett said via the NBA Today YouTube channel.
Barrett was then asked of playoff experience, with it being his second appearance in the postseason. He pointed at Miami’s prowess, before throwing in that he thinks his Knicks squad “could’ve won” the series.
“You know, it being my second time in the playoffs I was a little more comfortable,” he added. “But, I think experience helps for sure. Just seeing [teams], even looking at the Heat, some of the things that they were able to do during the game, you could just tell it’s from the experience that they had. So, this helped and it was great to go up against a team like that. We still think that we could’ve won but we came up short.”
Jaylen Brown Discusses Celtics Matchup With Heat
Swinging things back to the Celtics series, fresh off of their win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston quickly turned their attention to the Heat.
Star forward Jaylen Brown discussed the rematch of last season’s Conference Finals, and explained that he and the Celtics can’t take Miami lightly.
“Nothing about last year matters,” Brown said via the CLNS Media Boston Sports Network YouTube channel. “I don’t think Miami is thinking about last year, they’re coming out ready to play basketball…I’m looking forward to it, I think it will be a great challenge.”
The Heat will take the floor for Game 1 at TD Garden at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.