Miami Heat and Boston Celtics They will face each other for the third time in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.in a series that starts this Tuesday and to which they arrived shining for their rocky defenses, for their organization and for their group game and led by Jimmy Butler and Jayson Tatum.
The Heat, three times champions and nine times finalists of Conference in its 34 years of history, come across some Celtics, 17 times championswho entered this round after knocking out the Milwaukee Bucks, last year’s title winners, in seven games, and the Brooklyn Nets.
It will be a clash between first and second in the East in the regular season, in which the details will be decisive and in which the Heat come out with home court advantage.
Erik Spoelstra’s team eliminated with authority en route to the Conference finals to the Atlanta Hawks (4-1) and to the Philadelphia 76ers of Joel Embiid and James Harden (4-2).
They are undefeated at home, where they won six games out of six averaging a 17-point leadand they will begin their journey precisely at the FTX Arena.
Butler, at 32 years old, seeks to crown his career with a ring that he saw vanish two seasons ago in the Orlando bubble, when his team surrendered to LeBron James’s Los Angeles Lakers. His weight in the Heat goes far beyond his numbers, but in these ‘playoffs’ he shows off a brilliant average of 28.7 points per game and is also the one with the most steals, with 2.1 per game.
He is the unquestioned leader of a team that has power in the paintthanks to Bam Adebayo, 3-point specialists like Tyler Herro, the best sixth man of the year, or Duncan Robinson, and personality to spare, like PJ Tucker.
And that in these ‘playoffs’ the Heat still haven’t been able to count on a Kyle Lowry to the maximum of form. The No. 7 was slowed down by physical issues this postseason and is a serious doubt for the first few games of the series.
Spoelstra’s men will face the Celtics who, after a hard-working start to the season, have established themselves as one of the fittest teams in the NBA. After having a winning record of less than 50% until January, the Celtics finished the campaign with a 28-7 and in these ‘playoffs’ they have overcome with character the Brooklyn Nets and the defending champions of the Bucks.
They beat the Nets of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving 4-0 and won the series in game seven against the Bucks, after coming back from a 2-3 deficit, led by a Jayson Tatum in the best form of his career. The St. Louis native had 46 points in Game 6, in Milwaukee, to force the seventh, and contributed 23 this Sunday in the rain of triples with which his team extended his dream at TD Garden.
Ime Udoka’s franchise hit 22 triplesa record in a seventh game of ‘playoffs’, and ended the reign of the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Tatum is the brightest star, but he is supported by a united groupwith character elements like Jaylen Brown and Al Horford, and defensive rocks like Marcus Smart.
Home field advantage favors Miami on paper, but Boston has already shown that it does not tremble away from TD Garden. He did it by winning twice at Milwaukee and just as many times at Brooklyn. Clash of the Titans in the East, with the finals against the Golden State Warriors or the Dallas Mavericks as the prize.