Celtics’ singular goal: Stop Heat 3’s to force Game 7
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. » There have been two undeniable truths about the Miami Heat this season.
They must make 3’s to win.
They aren’t invincible with sizable leads.
The Boston Celtics have scouting and analytics teams that undoubtedly know these trends. But, really, so would anyone who simply can read a boxscore.
Take away Miami’s 3’s, and the Heat are easier to beat. The Celtics proved that again in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals when they extended their season with a victory — and will aim to take the same tact Sunday night when they meet the Heat again in another must-win for Boston.
“They’re going to hit some shots, they’re going to make some plays,” Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said. “They’ve got some good players. We’re just trying to make it as tough as we could.”
The Heat have played 87 games this season and shot below 20% from 3-point the play, as the relay throw bounced off his head as he slid into third.
La Stella was replaced by Tony Kemp, who remained at third as Ramón Laureano and Robbie Grossman both struck out and Matt Olson popped out.
Coming into Saturday, the A’s knew they would finish the season no worse than second in the AL if they beat the Mariners in both ends of their doubleheader. The A’s could also take second place if they win one game Saturday and the Minnesota Twins lose to the Cincinnati Reds.
The A’s entered Saturday with the American League’s second best record at 35-22. The Tampa Bay Rays (3820) can clinch the No. 1 seed with either a win over Philadelphia on Saturday or one more A’s loss. range in just three of them — one of them being Friday night, when the Celtics prevailed 121-108 to cut Miami’s lead in the series to 3-2.
Miami was 7 for 36 from deep, just 19%.
“Regardless of whether it’s going in or not, that can’t affect your commitment on the other side of the floor,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And it felt like it did.”
The Celtics confined most of their Saturday plans to a film session; the Heat were doing the same along with some optional workouts.
American League teams have to set their 28-player roster for the first round of the playoffs by Tuesday morning. Whether Minor earns a start in the postseason is unclear.
It would appear the A’s would be set for the best-ofthree first round, with Sean Manaea, Mike Fiers, Jesus Luzardo and Chris Bassitt all
Heat center Bam Adebayo, who blamed himself for the Game 5 loss despite teammates saying otherwise, said he would spend some of Saturday on the floor looking for answers.
“This team has good resolve,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Saturday. “I thought we showed that last night. We’ll have to continue to show the ability to be able to handle good and bad throughout a game.”
Even though the disappointment was clear Friday night, the Heat still understand available. But Minor could be someone manager Bob Melvin uses in the second round in a best-of-five series, if the A’s advance that far.
With no days off between playoff rounds, the A’s may need to use a fifth starter if they hope to keep their other starters on regular rest. If it’s not Minor, it would likely be Frankie Montas, who has where they are: a No. 5 seed, one that didn’t even make the playoffs last season, one win from the NBA Finals. Miami needed two tries before ousting Milwaukee in the second round, saying then it learned at what level a team needs to be to win a closeout game.
The Celtics provided them another reminder of that Friday night, when they outscored Miami 70-50 after halftime and erased a 12-point second-quarter deficit.
“As you go on, the wins get harder and harder,” Heat guard Duncan Robinson said. “And doing what we want to do and advancing from this round is going to be the hardest thing we’ve done all season and our in our athletic careers for many of us. Fortunately, we have coaches and guys that have been there and know what it takes.
“But this is certainly a reminder — to think that we were just going to have a good first half and just kind of coast to a victory in this stage of the playoffs, we’re misguided for thinking that.”
had his own struggles of late.
Perhaps another option for Melvin is to use Minor out of the bullpen, maybe in long relief if that becomes necessary. In 2017, two years after he had labrum surgery, Minor was used as a reliever by the Kansas City Royals. He appeared in 65 games for the Royals as a reliever and went 6-6 with a 2.55 ERA.
Minor has started one postseason game in his career, but it was a dandy.
Pitching for Atlanta in 2013, Minor started Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and allowed just one earned run in 6 1/3 innings. He also allowed eight hits and struck out five, outdueling Zack Greinke in what became a 4-3 Braves win.
Coming into Saturday, Minor was 1-6 with a 5.92 ERA in 11 appearances. In his first four games with the A’s, Minor was 1-1 with a 6.61 ERA.