The Miami Heat are in unchartered territory. They’re the underdogs for their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Jimmy Butler is expected to miss the entire series after suffering an MCL sprain when facing the Philadelphia 76ers on April 16. Terry Rozier is dealing with a neck injury, and Josh Richardson has shoulder issues.
As such, the Heat are undermanned and outgunned. Boston is arguably the most talented team in the NBA. They ran through the Eastern Conference during the regular season. Nevertheless, All-Star big man Bam Adebayo believes the Heat are still capable of causing an upset and sending the Celtics home for the second straight season.
“They’re going to look at us and be like, `We can’t win because we don’t have Jimmy (Butler),”‘ Adebayo said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to play the game. You’ve got to go out there and compete … We know we’re going into the game with people doubting us, people not believing in us. The guys in that locker room believe. As long as the guys in the locker room and the coaching staff believe, we always got a chance.”
Miami will face the Celtics on Wednesday (April 24), in the second game of their best-of-seven series. A loss would put them in a precarious situation where they would need to win at least one of their upcoming games at the Kaseya Center.
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Boston is set on contending for a championship this season. They will see a wounded Heat team and want to finish them off as quickly as possible, after all, a difficult matchup will await in the second round.
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