A season that started with a lot of hope has finally crashed, burned, and ended. The Miami Heat have been eliminated in the NBA Playoffs by the Boston Celtics with a 118 to 84 scoreline. Coach Joe Mazzulla and the Jayson Tatum-led squad may be missing Kristaps Porzingis but that did not mean that their wrath was not going to show. Unfortunately, the duo of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo coached by Erik Spoelstra were at the receiving end of it. There were a lot of lapses which made it hard to come back in this game.
The first problem was the Heat’s early-game defense. Coach Erik Spoelstra and the rest of the squad know very well that they cannot notch a lot of buckets without Jimmy Butler or Terry Rozier in the NBA Playoffs. So, the best they could have probably done was suffocate the Celtics with switches just like they did in Game 2. But, that plan did not materialize at all. They gave up 41 points in just the first quarter while scoring only 23. That’s a huge 18-point deficit that they will not be able to conquer without two of their best scorers.
Another huge factor for the loss is the Heat’s perimeter-centric offense just could not be more horribly executed. When guys like Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard decide to go under screens rather than blitz the shooter or contest, something is clearly wrong.
This decision to still go after three-pointers was a double-edged sword. It was one that pierced deeper through the Heat faithful’s hearts as this NBA Playoffs clash went by. The game ended with them only knocking down 10.3% of their outside shots despite having 29 attempts from beyond the arc.
The rebounding battle was also not pretty. This Heat squad should have been able to take advantage of Joe Mazzulla not having Kristaps Porzingis. Instead, they could not get guys like Bam Adebayo to box out at all. The game ended with the Heat only grabbing 29 rebounds while the Celtics got 56 of them.
Who’s to blame for this Heat collapse?
Well, only two people combined for 45 shots of the Heat’s 87 attempts. Coach Erik Spoelstra either relied on Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro to finish their offensive possessions. That plan also did not work out for the Heat. The big man attempted 26 shots to keep the Heat afloat in this NBA Playoffs series. With only a little luck to rely on, he only managed to sink 10 of those shots. But, he was able to do all the dirty work.
Adebayo was all over the floor. He was active in anticipating the passing lane actions which led to two steals. He also crashed the boards despite being mobbed and out-schemed a lot. Five rebounds is not the best but he was putting other Heat players into good positions. Moreover, he tried to keep the offense running with six assists but it was to no avail due to Joe Mazzulla’s schemes and personnel.
The same cannot be said for Tyler Herro. He attempted 19 shots but only made six of them. A horrid part of his game was that he also kept forcing a lot of outside shots which broke the Heat’s offensive momentum. It was not worth it at all because he only sank one out of eight of these shots.
