The Heat Run Out of Luck: Story of the Series
The Miami Heat have been eliminated from the 2024 NBA playoffs by the Boston Celtics. What does this mean for both teams going forward?
Sometimes you enjoy a story because it goes differently than the way you expected it to. And sometimes you enjoy a story for exact opposite reason.
The matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat was enjoyable for me in the latter way. Don’t get me wrong. I love an underdog story as much as the next guy. But when you’re watching the best players in the world duke it out to be crowned champion, when you want to see the best face the best and see who comes out on top, sometimes the obvious outcomes are the best ones. Which brings us to this series, which ended on May 1st when the Celtics beat the Heat for the fourth time in a series that went five games.
Game 1 was the way everyone expected this series to go. Without Jimmy Butler, the Heat had no chance of beating Boston. At one point early the gap was only three points, but from that moment on the outcome was never in doubt up until the final buzzer. Despite their best efforts, the Heat were overmatched by the Celtics, led by star Jayson Tatum who ended the game with a 23 point triple double. This was the ideal scenario for Boston and its fans, and in all honesty it was the expected one as well.
But then game 2 came around, and the Heat proceeded to do the unthinkable. Not only did they beat the Celtics without their star to lead them, but they would break a franchise playoff record in the process. It is somewhat poetic that the underdog that has haunted the Boston juggernaut for years would hit a record-breaking 23 three-pointers to even the series up. In that moment, I thought back to an earlier article I wrote where I made the argument that this was the make-or-break year for the Celtics. If by some miracle (or nightmare depending on which team you support) the Heat eliminated the Celtics once again, I would have been one of the first to be calling for a radical rebuild of the team. It’s one thing to lose to a fully healthy underdog you took lightly once. But to lose to them again, when they’re not even fully healthy? Something would have to change.
The prospect of losing and the backlash that would follow seemed to jolt the Celtics into action, who would proceed to maul the Heat in the next three games. Boston would leave nothing in doubt for three straight games, beating Miami from pillar to post in eyewatering blowouts. In each of these games Boston made it clear: the Heat had no business meeting them in the playoffs. Aside from capturing lightning in a bottle in game 2, Miami would get steamrolled. And to put it bluntly, this is how it was always meant to go. Boston moves on to the second round where the Cavaliers await them, whereas Miami’s campaign this year has come to an end. Will they decide to run it back next year with Jimmy? Or will they consider making some moves? I personally think they’ll do the latter, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Ultimately this series reminded me of the boxing matches between Anthony Joshua Jr. and Andy Ruiz. The first one would end in shocking fashion as Ruiz would win a matchup that many thought he had no business in even participating in. The loss led to many people questioning the former champion’s heart, will to win, and even their skill as a boxer. Joshua would proceed to go away, rejuvenate himself, and would comfortably defeat Ruiz the next time they crossed paths. Ruiz, like the Heat had made a miracle happen once, but ultimately all of us would have no doubt who the better man was by the time the second bout came to an end.
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