Boston Celtics v Miami Heat (Heat lead 3-2)
The Boston Celtics came out and played their best basketball in game five to stave off elimination. However, the Heat had not lost two games in a row, and in-game six, the Heat kept that streak alive. The Heat eliminated the Celtics, 125-113, and will advance to the NBA Finals to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.
The Boston Celtics had a great season and were oh so close to advancing to their first NBA Finals in the Brad Stevens era, but the Heat was too hot for them to take down. The Celtics are set up for a great future with young stars F Jayson Tatum and F Jaylen Brown leading the way. However, they do need to abandon the G Gordan Hayward experiment because they looked like a better team while he was out with an injury. They should try to trade him and upgrade their center position because C Bam Adebayo has exposed their biggest weakness.
The Miami Heat was led by Adebayo (32PTS 14REB 5AST 1STL), who was the best player in this series from either team and had officially put him in the running for the best big man in the NBA. I already considered him to be the second-best center in the league, only behind C Nikola Jokic, but the progression he has shown will payoff for the Heat for as long as they want to keep him. G Jimmy Butler (22PTS 2REB 8AST 1STL) has made his presence known now and can stop getting labeled as the problem child. His leadership is one of the main factors that got this team into the finals. Finally, Erik Spoelstra needs to start getting more credit as one of the game’s best head coaches today. How he got this young team to play to their full potential is an amazing accomplishment.
The Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers are the two teams standing. It isn’t the LA showdown everyone wanted, but it should be a great finals. Most people expect the Lakers to have the advantage, but if they don’t take the Heat seriously, that could be big trouble for them.