On the less-desirable route, after the Celtics turned the tide in abrupt trend final week, the Heat might develop into the primary group ever to blow a 3-0 playoff collection benefit.
On the path to glory, the Heat would pull a collection they as soon as commanded out of the hearth to develop into the second eighth-seeded group ever to achieve the championship finals.
Deep breaths, Heat followers. Deep breaths.
We’ll get by way of this collectively. The Heat will make historical past tonight — by hook or by crook. The solely assure is that everybody concerned could have a raging case of the lemon booty till we discover out which chapter of Heat lore shall be written.
Home Away From Home
Game 7 of the Heat-Celtics heavyweight bout is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Monday, May 29.
The excellent news? Miami is 2-1 in Boston on this collection. The dangerous information? The loss was a start-to-finish stomping in Game 5, post-Celtics revival.
The hapless Celtics group the Heat beat in Games 1 and a pair of is lengthy gone — however then once more, this can be the primary time within the collection the strain has been equally distributed between the 2 groups. To come out of the gate robust, the Heat should shake off the Celtics’ seemingly surreal buzzer-beating Game 6 win to equalize the collection, which left many followers in Miami curled in a fetal place.
Expect a Thunderdome environment in Boston tonight. The Celtics may throw the Heat a curveball by trotting out members of the 2004 Red Sox squad that pulled off its personal 3-0 comeback in opposition to the New York Yankees to move to the World Series and break the Curse of the Bambino.
The NBA playoffs have seen 150 situations the place a group has gone up 3-0, as did the Heat. Not as soon as has a group within the Celtics’ place come again to win 4 in a row and declare the collection.
As for Cinderella playoff runs, solely the New York Knicks have made the NBA Finals as an eight seed. The Knickerbockers achieved the feat through the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season underneath head coach Jeff Van Gundy. They in the end fell to the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 within the NBA championship.
By the Numbers: Analytics Favor Boston
The Heat have been on an uphill climb in opposition to sports-forecasting departments all postseason, and it is no totally different going into Game 7. According to simply about any prediction, the Heat are underdogs to drag out Game 7 and clinch a visit to the NBA Finals.
Below is only a sampling of the calculator carnage dealing with Miami forward of tonight’s large sport:
But the analytics by no means gave the Heat a shot, after which the group took a 3-0 lead. Either the quantity crunchers are simply that good, or, like the remainder of us, they merely shot out what appears doubtless and threw their fingers within the air when the prediction did not play out.
One factor the computer systems cannot quantify is the Heat’s emotional drive to beat, propelled by Jimmy Butler, who has but to win an NBA championship in his 12-year profession. Butler and the Heat made it to the finals in 2020 however fell to the Lakers in six video games; the final championship the group gained dates again to 2013 amid the LeBron James heyday.
Will the incalculable X-factor be sufficient to place the group on the highway to victory? We’ll discover out tonight when Miami meets its future.
Good luck, Miami Heat. And might the chances by no means be in your favor.