From the moment Jimmy Butler had to sit out the Miami Heat’s first games against the Boston Celtics, many believed that the series was as good as lost for them. It was hard to imagine a team without their franchise player winning a basketball game against the team with the best regular-season record in the NBA.
However, that’s exactly what the Heat did as they managed to take down a fully healthy Celtics roster in Game 2. Almost every player on the Heat roster picked up the slack and made up for the errors they committed in Game 1.
Bam Adebayo was simply unstoppable as the team’s defensive nexus. Adebayo and Tyler Herro carried the offensive load for Butler and Terry Rozier to completely overwhelm a stunned Celtics side.
The performance was so majestic that fans couldn’t help but gush over what Erik Spoelstra’s boys were doing on the floor.
Miami Heat fans rain praise on the team as Game 3 approaches
It’s an understatement to say that fans were shocked with what the Miami Heat are doing in this year’s playoffs. The fact that they can play incredible basketball against the one-seed while their most important player is out with an injury defies all conventional logic basketball fans have come to accept as gospel truth.
The Spun’s Andrew Gould recapped what fans said about the Zombie Heat, the latest moniker given to the team due to their refusal to allow the C’s to do whatever they want on the floor:
“The zombie Heat will never die,” a fan declared.
“Zombie Heat doin Zombie Heat things,” a fan said. “With THIS roster it’s just plain stupid what they are doing.”
“You would think Boston of all teams would avoid letting themselves get zombie Heat’d,” Adam Papageorgiou wrote. “And yet…”
“The Zombie Heat are inevitable,” Tayler Peterson concluded.
“Dread it. Fear it. Run from it,” Paul Russo warned. “Zombie Heat. #HEATCulture.”
With the way the Miami Heat outplayed the Celtics despite having to deal with an injury to their star man, it’s no wonder people can’t stop talking about Spoelstra’s team.
The Heat are playing like a well-oiled machine against the Celtics
While Adebayo and Herro are the players getting flowers for their outstanding Game 2 performance, they aren’t the only players making an impact these past two games.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. is having a solid series as a rookie, averaging 15.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists as an all-around utility player. Caleb Martin, Nikola Jovic, and Delon Wright are lighting it up from three-point land, converting at least half of their three-point attempts.
Duncan Robinson, Kevin Love, and Haywood Highsmith might not have eye-catching stats compared to the rest of the team, but their intangibles are essential in stopping Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis from doing whatever they want.
Spoelstra has done a marvelous job in maintaining a strong Miami Heat team that can take on the best regular-season squad in the league. One can only imagine how dominant the Heat will be if Jimmy Butler makes it back.
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