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The Miami Heat‘s ticket for a return trip to the NBA Finals will remain unpunched for at least a couple more days.
Despite entering Tuesday night’s showdown with the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals with all of the momentum, a 3-0 lead and home-court advantage, Erik Spoelstra‘s squad lost in blowout fashion, 116-99, at Kaseya Center.
After the game, Spoelstra was asked whether he was concerned about his players having experienced a letdown. However, the Heat coach promptly rebuffed the notion that they had taken their eyes off the prize.
“No, I don’t — I didn’t sense any of that,” Spoelstra insisted. “At some point this is great competition. Sometimes it can get skewed because, whatever, the 3-0 but we have great respect for Boston, what they’re capable of. They’re a dynamic offensive team. It takes extraordinary efforts and commitment to get the job done.
“Our guys really want this but Boston has something to say about it as well, just like we do.”
The Heat Were Sunk by the Celtics’ Hot Shooting & Transition Attack
As much as (or more than) any coach in the Association, Spoelstra is singled out for his gameplanning and ability to make winning adjustments on the fly. During Game 4, however, the Beantowners were able to impose their will despite the strategies that were put into place.
“Sometimes things don’t go exactly as planned,” Spoelstra told reporters. “A lot of what we’ve done this year has been the hard way and we’ve been able to figure out ways to win even if teams are playing well, if we’re not in a perfect flow … They got us tonight; you have to give them credit for that.”
In particular, the Heat were overwhelmed by a long-range shooting barrage from Boston, who connected on 18 of their 45 attempts from three-point range. As that hot shooting continued into the second half, it was eventually accompanied by Miami’s offense stagnating which opened the door to transition opportunities for the Celtics.
Boston ultimately racked up 27 points off of 16 Heat turnovers in the contest. Meanwhile, Miami was outscored 66-43 in the second half.
“There wasn’t a lot of flow to the offense and then they capitalized on that … getting out in transition,” Spoelstra said. “Then they knocked down some threes … they mostly had control of that second half. You have to credit them for that. They defensively took advantage of our ball-holding and we were a little bit late getting into our our stuff.”
Jimmy Butler Coming Back to Earth
Heat star Jimmy Butler has been one of the best players of the current postseason and has battled Celtics cornerstone Jayson Tatum for the distinction of being the top performer in the current series.
Over the last two games, though, he has lacked the mojo that set him apart in earlier playoff rounds.
Although he dropped a team-high 29 points in Game 4, Butler is shooting just 41.2% from the field overall and 20.0% from three-point range over the last two games. He was just 1-of-5 from the floor during the fourth quarter on Tuesday amid his team’s fight to get back into the contest.
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