Spoelstra says he’s determined to win.
The Miami Heat lost 103-104 to the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2022-2023 NBA Playoffs at the Amway Center in Miami, Florida on Monday (Feb. 28).
The Miami Heat are the hottest team in these playoffs. The regular season was a bit of a struggle as they couldn’t solve their height disadvantage. But in the playoffs, they are making a huge upset.
They entered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, but they swept the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks four games to one and even the New York Knicks in the second round.
Miami’s conference finals opponent was the Boston Celtics, who dominated the East last season. Once again, Miami was the underdog. However, the Heat came out firing on all cylinders, taking Games 1 and 2 on Boston’s home floor and then taking Game 3 to advance to the Finals.
But it was all downhill from there. They dropped Games 4 and 5, and then a crucial Game 6 at home.
In the crucial Game 6, Miami didn’t get off to a good start. Jimmy Butler (201 cm, F) and Bam Adebayo (206 cm, F-C) struggled.
However, Miami managed to pull away in the fourth quarter. Butler came out of his slump and Duncan Robinson (201 cm, F) led the team’s offense by hitting outside shots, most notably Butler’s dramatic free throws with four seconds left in the game to make it 103-102. Four seconds to win the game.
But Miami couldn’t kill the clock. They blocked the first shot after the shot clock expired. But with 0.1 seconds left in the game, Derrick White (193 cm, G) grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a second-chance basket. That’s how Miami lost in dramatic fashion.먹튀검증
Despite the loss, head coach Erik Spoelstra said in his postgame interview, “We wanted to end the series today, but we lost and now we have to wait 48 hours. We’ll go to Boston and finish the series. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we’re going to prepare as much as we can in the time we have left. We’re going to get to the NBA Finals.”
Will Spoelstra’s words be true, and will Miami be able to clinch Game 7 and reach the Finals? A Game 7 win would be the second time in NBA history that an 8-seed has reached the Finals.
Conversely, a Game 7 loss would make them the first team in NBA history to drop a series after winning three straight and then losing four in a row. It will be interesting to see if Miami can pull off an eighth-seed miracle or fall victim to a major upset. The two teams will meet in Game 7 at TD Garden in Boston on Nov. 30.