The Miami Heat stunned the Boston Celtics 111-101 on Wednesday night to tie up their NBA Playoffs series at one game apiece.
The fact that the Heat are back in this series despite star Jimmy Butler’s absence is cause for celebration among Heat fans, and apparently for Butler himself.
Jimmy caught the Heat’s win in style on Wednesday night:
If you can’t be with your team during a crucial playoff matchup with a rival, that’s probably the second-best place to be.
Of course, Butler didn’t just watch the Heat beat the Celtics, he had a little fun on Instagram as well.
As entertaining as Butler’s callback to what Jaylen Brown said when the Heat went up 3-0 in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals was, Celtics fans would know that Brown’s statement didn’t end up being completely on the money. Boston proceeded to win the next three games after Brown made his comments, but the Celtics collapsed in Game 7 of the series. Despite being at home, Boston shot below 40 percent from the field, hounded all game by a locked-in Heat defense.
With Butler having a little fun at Brown’s expense, the Heat may end up facing the same fate; they might keep the series more competitive than anyone gave them credit for prior to the start of the series, but the Celtics might still move on to the second round in the end.
Nonetheless, the Heat are playing free and easy like a team that has nothing to lose. As capable as they are of another shocking run to the NBA Finals, doing so without Butler and Terry Rozier may be too difficult a task, even for this Heat team.
Therefore, the Celtics have to still be considered the favorites to win the series. But it makes for very entertaining viewing with Butler upping the stakes with his savage Instagram post — and makes him a very prescient man if Miami does end up shocking Boston yet again.
Heat aim to take control at home without Butler
All five starters for the Heat in Game 2 scored in double figures, led by Tyler Herro’s 24 points. Caleb Martin managed to haunt Boston again, going off for 21 points on 7-12 shooting from the field (including 5-6 from deep).
After their struggles in Game 1, the Heat managed to shoot the lights out, hitting 23 3-pointers against Boston. If they can continue to shoot this well and frustrate the Celtics on the inside, they have a decent chance at taking control of this series as it heads back to Boston next week.
Game 3 between the Heat and the Celtics is set for Saturday.
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