Until 2018 it was considered impossible for a 16 seed to beat a 1 seed in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. It happened twice in the 2023 tournament. Boston Red Sox were a franchise for 103 years before becoming the first MLB team to return from a 3-0 deficit. At the moment, nba teams are 0-150 in playoff series when they fall into that hole. He boston celtics seemed destined to become number 151 until a night of shooting without lights, combined with an eruption of Miami Heat Turnovers kept his season alive.
The injury has also arrived for the Heat. Guard Gabe Vincent has been discarded due to an ankle injury suffered in Game 4. The 3-point shot took the Heat past the milwaukee dollars in the first round, and has had the Celtics defense largely stumped in the Eastern Conference Finals. (youhe The New York Knicks shot so badly in the semifinals that 3-pointers weren’t necessary).
It’s highly likely that the public won’t receive any diagnosis on Vincent’s ankle until the day of the Heat’s next game, whether it’s Game 6 at home on Saturday or Game 1 on June 1 in Denver. However, losing a second game in a row wouldn’t put any uncomfortable pressure on them. Even the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls they lost two in a row to the Seattle Supersonics in the Finals before posting a victory in Game 6.
Just because it can happen doesn’t mean it will.
Mathematically, the No. 2-seeded Celtics have a chance to pull off what would be considered the best and most ironic upset in NBA history. Realistically though, what chance do the Celtics have of preventing the only No. 8 seed in NBA history, in an unshortened season, from reaching the NBA Finals?
They better hope the law of averages works in their favor, and the Heat’s shots come back to earth. The Celtics have been terrible at the 3-point line, while the Heat have been almost magical. In two of the four games, the Heat have made more than 50 percent of their 3-point attempts. The tides turned in Game 4 with the Heat shooting a gruesome 25 percent from three while the Celtics converted on a healthy 40 percent clip.
For all the Celtics have done wrong in this series, if the Heat continue to shoot from 3 anywhere near the way they did during the regular season, fourth worst in the league, they will have a golden opportunity to win. Game 5. and any subsequent matchups.
As devastating as the Heat’s shooting has been in this series, only Game 3 didn’t really give the Celtics any chance of victory. In the game 1 in Boston, the Heat saw a 12-point lead quickly cut in half in the fourth quarter. In Game 2, the Celtics held a double-digit lead twice in the last 12 minutes.
inconsistent celtics at home
Self-inflicted mistakes put them in a disastrous situation: down 2-0 when organizing the first two games. Turnovers plagued the Celtics in game one. Every time who got the score on two possessions during the fourth quarter, turned the ball over.
Then in Game 2, an advantage they had on the Heat became a weakness. The Celtics have outrebounded the Heat in the Eastern Conference in every phase: total, defensive and offensive. However, in that game, they lost control of the glass.
The Heat outrebounded the Celtics by 10 in the fourth quarter, including some backbreakers on the offensive end. With 1:20 remaining in the game, the Celtics were down by three points and forced the Heat to miss twice, but missed both times to clinch the offensive rebound. The third time was the charm as the Heat went up by five.
With Vincent gone, the Celtics’ chances of winning Game 5 have improved significantly, but even if both teams were healthy, they would have the better roster. They had the best net rating in the NBA during the regular season and were the only team in the top five in both offensive and defensive rating.
His season is on the line, but his best roster is complete, no the hand injury Jaylen Brown is playing for. If the Heat’s 3-point shooting percentage flattens out, and the Celtics stop shooting themselves in the foot, twice-struck lightning in Boston could become likely rather than unthinkable.