Post opened the season with a 12-15 record, Miami Heat looks like he’s ready to come back mind your name of an East which saw him arrive at Conference Finals in the previous campaign. Spoelstra’s took a new step forward in this aspect, beating top-seeded Boston 98-95 on Tuesday with a big comeback in the last quarter.
While it’s true that the Celtics didn’t make headlines like Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Al HorfordZesti didn’t have it Jimmy Butler and had to end up with names like Haywood Highsmith, Gabe Vincent and Orlando Robinson playing a big role in securing the win against Jason Tatum (31 points and 14 rebounds) and company.
And it is that despite these reported casualties, Boston was superior in the first three quarters, entering the last 12 minutes leading 82-75. But that’s where the power came in that put the Heat back in the Conference spotlight: his shocking defense.
We closed out another game on defense once again. 🗜 pic.twitter.com/bmeMxr1ZD6
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 25, 2023
Miami came into this game with third-best mark in the league in that area and showed why against the Celtics, leaving Mazzulla’s men (usually the best offense in the NBA) in 13 points in the final period. Those from Florida absolutely blocked all roads for the visit and with some decisive remarks from Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo (30 points and 15 rebounds), were held to a 98-95 final to bring their record to 27-22 on the season.
#NBAALLSTAR HE 💥 pic.twitter.com/GZnKrYcJKg
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 25, 2023
Miami now has only two wins short of one Brooklyn (today in fourth place) which he will have Kevin Durant out for at least two weeks. Suddenly, home field advantage in the 1st Round of the Playoffs no longer seems like an impossible goal for them.
The offense continues to need significant changes (28th out of 30 teams), but while they look for solutions in that regard, the defense supports and elevates them: in their last four wins, they have held the opponent to 98 points or less. An excellent number for a league in which teams consistently score over 110 or 115 points.
The past few years have always taught us the lesson don’t underestimate miami and 2022-2023 was further proof of that. Watch out for them in the East.
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