With their backs against the wall heading into an elimination game on the road against the Boston Celtics, what can we expect from the Miami Heat?
Heading into this season, there was one thing that was certain about the Miami Heat.
But it wasn’t that they would be a successful regular-season team. It wasn’t that they would finish as a top 4 seed either. It wasn’t even that this team would be a contender, much less make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. In fact, many expected this team to struggle to compete with the other contenders in the East.
What was a certainty about this Heat team, though, was their toughness. No matter what the situation, the Heat was going to be a tough team to beat night-in and night-out.
Miami didn’t project to have the talent to keep pace with top-heavy teams such as the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, or Milwaukee Bucks, but they were going to be a hard-working team that was going to give the opposition headaches.
However, as of late against the Celtics, that really hasn’t been the case.
In fact, Boston has pretty much run through them at will in three of the last four games of this series. And heading into a close-out opportunity in Game 6, the Celtics are favored by nine points.
Question is, what type of fight will the Heat put up in Boston? They’re injured, but so are the Celtics.
They’re not clicking offensively, but neither are the Celtics.
Miami entered this season and this series with the reputation of being the bullies and not necessarily being bullied. But so far in this series, the Celtics have out-bullied the Heat. They’ve been the tougher team. The Celtics have been the hard-nosed headache that Miami was supposed to be in this series.
Add that to the level of talent the Celtics have on their roster and it spells epic disaster for the Heat, which is exactly what this series has been for them.
But Miami has one last shot. They have a chance to reach deep down – if they have anything left – to try and salvage the season to perhaps extend the series back to Miami for a Game 7. What should we expect from the Heat in a must-win game? At one point in the season, I wouldn’t say their best performance of the year was going to come in Game 6.
However, I don’t believe that anymore. With the way the Heat has played in this series, I’m not even sure if they can firmly believe that either.