![]() In 1988, when Riley was coaching the Lakers to a title, he won them in three consecutive series. President Pat Riley has been involved in more than a dozen. The Heat's institutional knowledge is often staggering, and Game 7s are another example. ![]() He has won three of them, those coming in the title runs in 20 when James was on his side. Sunday is the sixth Game 7 Spoelstra will coach. It helped undercut a comeback attempt and buy the Heat time to regain control of the game. In Game 6 on Friday, he knew the Celtics had significantly prepared for his zone defense, so in the second half he broke out sudden double teams on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown that staggered the Boston offense. He's grandmaster in the chess matches that take place over the course of seven, even when he's just faking a maneuver. But Spoelstra was also offering a glimpse into his own world.Īll NBA coaches make strategy moves during playoff series, but Spoelstra is in an elite class. The Heat coach was paying James, who led the team to four Finals and two titles under Spoelstra, a compliment. And not making an adjustment to the adjustment I thought about making an adjustment, but I bluffed the adjustment, and he knew I was making a bluff," Spoelstra said then. "He was making adjustments to our adjustments to the adjustments. Heat's Spoelstra orchestrating a Game 7 chess matchĪfter emerging from the 2020 Finals, a series he ended up losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, Erik Spoelstra assessed the strategy matchup against LeBron James. Looking ahead to Game 7 on Sunday, we asked our ESPN experts to highlight a player, coach, trend or strategy that could swing the outcome and propel one of these teams into the Finals. "So as much as you love to finish it on your home court, we've been up and down this series, and due to that, it's where it is right now." "You put yourself in this position, going up 3-2, to have two games to win one," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said Saturday. ![]() Now the top-seeded Heat will try to cash in on any semblance of a home-court advantage despite the Celtics going 2-1 at FTX Arena in this conference final series. Jimmy Butler helped Miami stave off elimination Friday night by pouring in 47 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists in a 111-103 Game 6 win in Boston. The winner will advance to play the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, with Game 1 on Thursday (9 p.m. NBA playoffs 2022: Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum and the intangibles that could swing Game 7 Boston Celtics at Miami HeatĪfter the many ups and downs of the 2022 Eastern Conference finals, including double-digit wins and injuries to star players, the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics are facing off for Game 7 in Miami on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Even with the Raptors and the 76ers lurking.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser Even with the low-key Evil Empire juggernaut they’re building down in Miami. Even in a suddenly toothsome Eastern Conference. If this is the Tatum the Celtics are going to get, this can absolutely be an NBA Finals team. ![]() They wanted him to have the ball in his hands with the game on the line, and he delivered. He was in full-on attack mode, and you could see as Walker and the other Celtics kept deferring to him. In crunch time, he was calling for the ball with Kawhi Leonard guarding him, and scoring. It was one of those games when the Celtics - who have plenty of scoring talent in Kemba Walker, Gordon Hayward, and (certainly last night anyway) Marcus Smart -felt like a team that belongs to one man. But the stat line doesn’t even capture how important Tatum felt to the team in the moment. Tatum was the star on Thursday night, finishing with 39 points and 9 rebounds. (There are too many good teams to even suggest this could be an NBA Finals preview, but if it turns out to be, sign me up.) Forgive me for garbling up that electoral college cliche, but I feel it applies to the Boston Celtics this season, who showed a glimpse of what they could become on Thursday night in a more-thrilling-than-it-had-any-business-being double-overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
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