Much has changed but the rivalry remains
When the Miami Heat opens the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night, the Heat will be the fresher team after a six-day break in between series.
That will be different for Miami, which played each of its three regular-season games against Boston on the second night of a back-to-back set.
But then again, so much will be different for the fifth-seeded Heat and third-seeded Celtics when they open the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday.
Boston, which has three days to prepare for the conference finals after winning Game 7 of its second-round series over the Toronto Raptors on Friday, is the only Eastern Conference team that beat the Heat multiple times in the regular season.
Boston won the season series 2-1 over Miami, but Heat players and coaches say it’s hard to base much off those results because so much is different about the two teams entering the
East finals. Back-to-back scheduling, injuries and different rotations are just some of the variables that were involved in their regular-season matchups.
“You almost can’t draw anything from those games because there are so many moving parts that are different than they are now,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Saturday’s afternoon practice at Disney. “Of course, both coaching staffs will continue to dive into all that. But that’s something that really stuck out to me when you start diving into the film.
“Somebody has always been missing, multiple people in each of those games. At the end of the day, we’re a totally different team, certainly than the first time we played them in December. And they’re a much different team.”
In the teams’ first meeting of the season, the Heat fell to the Celtics 112-93 on Dec. 4 at TD Garden in Boston.
Guard Marcus Smart and forward Gordon Hayward did not play for the Celtics in that game because of injuries, and Goran Dragic missed the contest for the Heat because of a strained groin. Also, Justise Winslow, who has since been traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, played 31 minutes for Miami and Meyers Leonard was still in the Heat’s starting lineup.
In the teams’ second meeting of the season, the Heat lost to the Celtics 109-101 on Jan. 28 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
That game did not include Celtics star Jayson Tatum (right groin strain). Also, James Johnson and Dion Waiters, who have both since been traded, were in the Heat’s rotation while Leonard was still starting.
The Heat’s only win over the Celtics came in the teams’ third and final meeting of the regular season, when Miami picked up a 112-106 victory over Boston on Aug. 4 during seeding play at Disney.
Jimmy Butler was unavailable for that contest because of right ankle soreness, but both rosters and rotations looked closer to what they do entering the East finals with Jae Crowder in the starting lineup.
“Yeah, everybody is on an equal playing field here,” Spoelstra said of not having to play the Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back for the first time this season. “You’re getting an appropriate amount of rest. You’re getting right to the competition every other day. That’s the best way, I think all of us enjoy that type of format.”
But there is one takeaway Dragic has drawn from those three regularseason meetings with the Celtics.
“We already know they’re going to play tough. They’re a really physical team,” Dragic said. “We know they’re going to switch a lot. Like I said, we just need to prepare ourselves and try to execute our game plan. From there on, it’s definitely going to be different than the regular season.”
Much like the Heat, the Celtics feature scorers all over the court. Boston had five players average double-digit points in the regular season — Tatum (23.4 points per game), Kemba Walker (20.4), Jaylen Brown (20.3), Hayward (17.5) and Smart (12.9).
“I don’t think that we’re the underdog,” Butler said. “I think we’re a really good team. We play together. Everybody knows our role. We just compete. We’re just competitors. So we’re not embracing being the underdog.
“I think we’re supposed to be here. That’s how we think of it. So, to me, to us, that’s all that matters. We’re not underdogs.
We’re prepared.”
BUTLER ON RIVALRY
Butler said this season’s Heat-Celtics playoff matchup doesn’t compare to the ones from the Big 3 era.
“To tell you the truth, I think those teams were way better than the teams that we’ve got now,” Butler said with a smile “You’re taking about having DWade and ‘Bron and CBosh. Those are some top-five players. I think the Heat now are just stuck with me. I think I’d rather have D-Wade. But looking at it now, I think it’s fun as it is a rivalry.”
As for when Heat president Pat Riley told Celtics president Danny Ainge to “shut the f--- up and manage his own team” in a statement released by the team in March 2013, Butler said: “The back and forth between coach Pat, it doesn’t surprise me. I love it.
“And that’s why we are who we are. Because the head of our snake, him, he’s like us.”