For a Pat Riley-led team, the Miami Heat are sure doing the Boston Celtics a lot of favors right now.
The Jimmy Butler Experience torched the Milwaukee Bucks last night, making another late comeback to send Giannis Antetokounmpo packing in the first round and becoming just the sixth bottom seed to beat a number one in the first round.
And the Buck had Khris Middleton!
“Playoff Jimmy” is different, and is why I always wanted to avoid Miami in the first round. He scored nearly 100 points in the final two games to beat Milwaukee and 188 overall in the five games. Somehow, if his team is within striking distance (and often when it looks like they're not), he’s going to find a way to give his team a chance.
While I do think their carriage will turn into a pumpkin at some point, the first round of the playoffs always felt like we’d see them at their most dangerous. And that makes their play-in loss to Atlanta even more mind-boggling.
But a favor is a favor and Boston has now received two big ones from Miami. The Hawks are, by far, the best matchup Boston could ask for in the first round. That might make the Game 5 loss even more infuriating, which is understandable, but if the Celtics can go handle their business in Game 6, they're going to have a very advantageous path to a championship.
Of course, there's a big “if” there. I can’t trust the Celtics to go to Atlanta and win. Weird things happen in these situations, and the Celtics have put themselves in a position to get roasted by a 40-point Bogdan Bogdanovic night or have Onyeka Okongwu punish them with six offensive rebounds and putbacks. If the Celtics walk into State Farm Arena thinking the Game 5 loss was no big deal, then they’ll be playing Saturday night in a Game 7 trying to finish off a series that easily could have been a sweep.
Maybe Miami mixed in a third favor here, because Antetokounmpo had an interesting assessment of his teams’ sudden dismissal.
“I feel like they were playing to beat us, and I feel like we were playing to win the championship,” he said. “You could see they were playing with so much energy, so much passion, were playing together, tough, making it tough for us. I think we were just a little bit ahead of ourselves, to be honest with you.”
It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the big picture and miss out on the minor details of beating the team in front of you. Joe Mazzulla is as detail-oriented as a person gets, but it’s easy for a team like the Celtics to think their job is done when it’s really not. Watching a team they seemed destined to meet in the Conference Finals, a series many (including myself) called “the real NBA Finals,” get eliminated winning just one game can be a bit of a wake-up call.
I’m sure no one on that team wants to see themselves in a TNT “gone fishin’” segment again, especially not right now.
There's a task at hand tonight in Atlanta, and the Celtics need to accept the favor they got and finish the Hawks off. There's still time to get a few rest days in before facing the Sixers. There's still time to take advantage of those matchups and accept the favor of facing a fifth or eighth seed in the conference Finals.
Brad Stevens should send Riley and Erik Spoelstra something nice for their efforts. Maybe an edible arrangement or a gift card for BigFace coffee (that stuff is expensive). They handed Boston the Hawks on a silver platter, and now Boston just has to stop playing with their food and finish this series. Miami cleared a big obstacle down the road, so the Celtics need to focus on getting there and taking advantage of the chance they’ve been given.
It starts tonight in Atlanta, where the Celtics can show they're appreciative of this opportunity by coming out focused early and doing what they need to do. This always had the potential to be a championship team, but the road is a bit easier now. Their time is now, if they want it.
