The No. 8 seed Heat were four minutes away from being eliminated in the play-in tournament by the Bulls. Now, just a month later, Miami is 48 minutes away from a trip to the NBA Finals.
The Heat have dominated the No. 2 seed Celtics in all facets over the first three games of the Eastern Conference finals, using hot shooting and stifling defense to take both games in Boston and Game 3 in Miami.
Now, Miami has Boston in a 3–0 series hole, one which has never been overcome in NBA playoff history.
Despite all of this, Celtics guard Marcus Smart channeled the famous phrase of former Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar, telling the media on Tuesday at shootaround “Don’t let us get one.”
Millar muttered the same phrase ahead of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, when the Red Sox found themselves down 3–0 in the series to the Yankees. The Red Sox went on to win four straight games to advance to the World Series, before ultimately winning their first title in 86 years.
Perhaps Smart believes the Celtics can do the same, but things will need to go a whole lot better for Boston starting in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
