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Miami beats Chicago, setting up yet another Celtics-Heat playoff series

Originally posted on Boston Sports Journal
By John Karalis | Last updated 4/19/24

If it’s the playoffs, it’s Boston vs. Miami at some point.

This season, that point will be the first round of the playoffs, starting Sunday at 1 p.m. at TD Garden. The Heat dispatched the Bulls 112-91 Friday night, a game that featured “we want Boston chants.”

Chicago just couldn't hit a thing in this game. The Heat really tried to give the game away in the second quarter scoring just 13 points on 25% shooting, but the Bulls could only muster 20 points on 28.6% shooting. Miami put together a 12-0 run to close the third quarter and that was it.

It’ll be the third year in a row and the fourth time in the past five seasons these two teams have matched up. Since 2010, Boston-Miami has been the most common playoff series in the NBA, happening seven times.

Jimmy Butler is expected to miss the series with an MCL injury. The reporting has been that he’ll miss several weeks, so I think his season is over.

That obviously put the Heat in a bind. They started Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic, and Jaime Jaquez Jr against Chicago. That's not only a rookie and a second-year player in the starting lineup, it's two perimeter non-shooters off whom Boston can help without much fear of being hurt.

Here's the Celtics schedule... starting with Boston vs. the 8th seed Sunday at 1 and Wednesday at 7 in Boston. then Saturday at 6 p.m. in whatever city. The rest is TBD pic.twitter.com/JHPK4pXo9I
— John Karalis (@John_Karalis) April 17, 2024

The sight of a Heat jersey triggers some PTSD in a lot of Celtics fans. Miami barely played zone against Boston in its three matchups, which Boston won. Boston has too much shooting and Kristaps Porzingis to throw in the middle of it to blow that strategy to pieces. If Miami can’t play zone, they can’t be effective. They have too many weak spots on the floor that Boston can attack.

The biggest fear is that the Celtics will look at a bad Heat team and think they have it in the bag, coming out a little lax and paying the price. I think that might be a legitimate fear had the Bulls won, but I have a feeling that the guys in the locker room are chomping at the bit for this one. I feel like they're going to want to stomp Miami just for the catharsis of it.

Remember what they did to the Warriors?

I’ll just leave it at that and save the rest for a full series preview. I understand that people are going to think Miami is a problem, and I’m sure the radio airwaves will be full of people saying they're nervous about things. But that's more history and memories speaking than it is looking at this current situation. I feel like this will be an easy series for the Celtics.

This article first appeared on Boston Sports Journal and was syndicated with permission.

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