Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Adebayo’s playoff block vs. Celtics still resonates
“It’s bigger than just our history. That will go down as one of the more memorable defensive plays in playoff history.”
— Heat coach Erik Spoelstra
It didn’t save the season to the degree of Ray Allen’s 3-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, nor did it necessarily announce the arrival of a Hall of Fame career, as Dwyane Wade’s game winner in his first playoff game.
But Bam Adebayo already has reserved a special place on the all-time Heat list of memories when it comes to his blocked shot against the Boston Celtics at the end of Game 1 of last season’s Eastern Conference finals.
With the Celtics arriving Wednesday to AmericanAirlines Arena, that made Tuesday a day to reflect.
To recap: With the Heat up two and time expiring in overtime on Sept. 15 in the NBA’s Disney World quarantine bubble, Celtics All-Star forward Tatum beat Jimmy Butler off the dribble and appeared to have a clear path for a game-tying dunk. Enter Adebayo, at the peak of his extension, with a block that he said left two fingers numb. Game.
“The best defensive play I’ve seen ever in the playoffs,” no less than Magic Johnson would immediately declare. Five games later, the Heat were in the NBA Finals.
“Just hearing Magic say something about it,” Adebayo said after Tuesday’s practice, “I feel that’s what caught my eye.”
The Heat All-Star center then left the moment alone, with greater playoff concerns at the time.
“We’ll probably say something to each other during the game,” he said of the lack of conversation with Tatum about the play since.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said it took hours to digest the magnitude of the moment.
“Probably the next morning,” he said Tuesday. “I was working out and the replays were on. And just the context of the game.
“I just thought it was really fitting for Bam, you know, to have an iconic defensive moment in a playoff series. Because I just think he’s a winning player. And he does it in so many different ways. If Tatum gets that dunk down, they win the game, and you just never know how that can swing a series, one way or another. But he put himself out there and made just an incredible play for our team.”
A great moment in Heat history? Spoelstra said more.
“It’s bigger than just our history,” he said. “Thatwillgodownasoneofthemorememorable defensive plays in playoff history.”
A photo of the blocked shot now adorns the hallway leading to the Heat locker room, Adebayo said.
But with such memories comes potential payback. Before eliminating the Celtics 4-2 in the Eastern Conference finals, the Heat eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks 4-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. In the teams’ first meeting since, the Bucks blew out the Heat by 47 last week at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Enter Tatum and Celtics for the first of two meetings in a five-day span, with the Heat to play Sunday at TD Garden.
“The Bucks just beat us by 47 the other day,” Adebayo said, when asked what he expects Wednesday. “We just beat them in the Eastern Conference. Do you think they don’t got an attitude or a grudge about we just beat them in the Eastern Conference finals?”
Of the Bucks, Adebayo said, “they wanted to embarrass us because we got them out of the second round.”
So of the Celtics, “Yeah, they’re going to have a chip on their shoulder.”
The key, Adebayo said, is to heed the lesson of that first rematch with the Bucks.
“They had to watch us play in the Finals, so of course they’re going to have a grudge,” he said of the Celtics. “That’s human nature. But it’s our job to go out there and counteract that and bring our intensity.”