Absolutes in sports can be a foolish endeavor.
There’s the possibility, however remote sometimes, that anything can happen between two teams. It’s why underdog stories resonate.
And yet, it’s hard to envision the Miami Heat beating the Boston Celtics in Game 7 on Monday.
Not after what has transpired in the past three games and not after what transpired in Game 6 when the ups and downs of an entire series played out in the final seconds of Boston’s dramatic 104-103 victory.
The Celtics were up 102-100, then down 103-102 and when the Celtics’ Marcus Smart’s 3-point shot didn’t go in with one second left, it looked like the Heat were headed back to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.
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In that one remaining second after Smart’s miss, Boston’s Derrick White raced to the rim, grabbed the rebound and a fraction of a second before the final buzzer ― the basketball left his hand with .1 second remaining ― he put the ball off the glass and into the basket, giving the Celtics the victory.
Giving the Celtics one more chance. Giving the Celtics the opportunity to become the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win a playoff series.
Celtics fans, especially the diehard sports fans living in New England, are thinking about the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
It just seems like Boston will win Game 7. Even it was a struggle to make it a 3-3 series, the Celtics have just about everything going in their direction.
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There is hand-wringing in Miami already about the game’s final three seconds. The Heat decided to double-team Boston’s Jayson Tatum on the in-bounds pass that ultimately went to Smart. It wasn’t bad strategy. Tatum had 31 points, including 25 in the first half, and drew enough fouls that sent him to the free throw line 15 times.
But as Miami’s Max Strus left the Tatum double-team, he got jammed up on Smart’s attempt and lost track of White briefly enough for White to get the rebound.
“Making that ball go anywhere but Jayson Tatum,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Ideally, you would think, you hope you do the right things. That thing just bounced a different way. That’s the only place it could have bounced to hurt us. I thought we had a lot of things covered on that play and sometimes things just don’t break your way.”
Long before that play, the Heat were in trouble, mainly because Butler and Bam Adebayo struggled offensively. Butler finished with 24 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, but he was just 5-for-21 from the field, Adebayo was 4-for-16 for 11 points. They were a combined 7-for-33 shooting midway through the fourth quarter and Miami needed to overcome a 98-88 deficit late in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t give a damn what they shot,” Spoelstra said. “We were up one. We may win this thing as ugly as it’s ever been done. I don’t care what guys shoot. It’s the competitive will that I’m talking about, and those guys are going to bring it on.”
There’s truth to Spoelstra’s statement. Butler also had 11 rebounds and eight assists, and Adebayo had 13 rebounds and five assists. They made enough of impact to give the Heat a chance to win the game.
In contrast though, Tatum had another 30-plus point performance with 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks, and Jaylen Brown had 26 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Boston’s two best players were better than Miami’s two best players, and that’s why this series is headed for a seventh game.
It’s hard to see Miami winning a third game in Boston after taking the first two of the series there. Last season, Boston won Game 7 of the conference finals in Miami. Can the Heat get Game 7 in Boston this season?
Spoelstra had his competitive fire burning in the postgame press conference.
“This is one hell of a series,” he said. “At this time right now, I don’t know how we are going to get this done, but we are going up there and get it done. And that’s what the next 48 hours is about. There’s been nothing easy about this season for our group, and so we just have to do it the hard way. That’s just the way it’s got to be for our group.
“We wish we would tip this thing off, right now. Right now, let’s tip this thing off and let’s play another 48 minutes. But we’ll wait 48 hours and do this thing in Boston.”
It will be a stunning and remarkable accomplishment if the Heat pull it off.
And it just feels like that’s not going to happen.
