Heat looking to bounce back at home
April 22, 2010
MIAMI (AP)—They’re expecting 19,600 fans to come see the Miami Heat try tosave their season, the overwhelming majority of them sure to be dressed in blackat the team’s urging.
And those ticketholders will be booing someone.
— Maybe Kevin Garnett(notes), back for Boston after a one-game suspension forelbowing Quentin Richardson(notes).
— Maybe Rajon Rondo(notes), who said the Celtics are planning to win twice in Miamiand finish off a first-round sweep.
— Maybe the Heat themselves, who are down 0-2 in their best-of-seven seriesafter wasting two opportunities in Boston.
Answers shall be forthcoming Friday night when Miami hosts Boston in Game 3,the Celtics looking to move one win away from the second round of the EasternConference playoffs and the Heat aiming for just one glimmer of hope that couldquickly turn this series back their way.
“It’s our turn to come out with a game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said aspractice was ending on Thursday. “It starts with just one win. Let’s get thiswin tomorrow night, whatever it takes, and then we move on from there. We can’tplay both games tomorrow night. So let’s take care of Game 3.”
No one need remind Miami of how vital Game 3 is, since no team has everrallied from an 0-3 deficit in NBA playoff history.
At the same time, no one was making any decrees or guarantees at practiceThursday, where somehow—after a 34-10 run in the second half helped giveBoston a comeback victory in Game 1, and a wild 44-8 burst turned Game 2 into aCeltics rout—the Heat mood remained upbeat.
“You’ve got to keep in perspective that a series doesn’t start until a teamwins on the other team’s court, so we’ve got to come home and take care of ourhome court,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade(notes) said Thursday. “We played well toward theend of the year at home and we should be very confident here. The crowd is goingto be amazing, so we have to use that to get ourselves an edge.”
Confidence won’t be a problem for Boston, either. Especially after the waythe first two games of this series went.
The Celtics have now beaten Miami in 13 of the last 14 meetings between theteams, and in the one loss, neither Garnett nor Rondo played. Both will be inthe lineup Friday, and Garnett’s return makes a team that just embarrassed theHeat by 29 on Tuesday night will get stronger for Game 3.
“Well, I don’t expect any of us to get any cheers down there and I’m nodifferent from that,” said Garnett, who has played in 36 road playoff games inhis career, being part of wins in only eight of those contests. “I’m notsitting here saying, you know, the villain or the hero. I could care less. I’veplayed on the road before. … It is what it is. I care less.”
Garnett has never seen a Miami crowd in the playoffs before, at least not asup-close-and-personal as he will Friday.
That being said, Garnett said he still remembers what the place was likewhen he watched the Heat run to the 2006 NBA title, especially how much the homecourt was a factor when Miami ousted Detroit that year in the Eastern Conferencefinals.
“We’re figuring their backs are against the wall and they’re thinking thatif they don’t get Game 3 then this is pretty much over,” Garnett said. “I knowthat’s what I would be thinking so we’re going to have to be ready for that.”
Scheme-wise, there isn’t likely to be wholesale changes.
Boston probably won’t change anything. Rondo said it’s been his decisionwhen to use full-court pressure against Miami’s ballhandlers, a move thatessentially forced the Heat into using Wade at the point more in Games 1 and 2than they would have liked. Ray Allen(notes) shot 7 of 9 from 3-point range in the Game2 rout, and when Boston has had Glen Davis(notes) on the floor in this series, it hasoutscored Miami by 39.
Miami, maybe surprisingly, isn’t likely to make a bunch of dramaticadjustments, either. The Heat game plan worked to a point in Game 1, as itcarried them to a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter before theshots simply stopped falling. And when Miami endured the same offensive blackoutin Game 2, the score got away quickly.
“Minor adjustments, of course, but energy, effort, mental, things likethat. Those are the things we’ve been so good at so far this year,” Heatforward Udonis Haslem(notes) said. “We’ve got to get back to that.”
One other reason for the Celtics to have some swagger when they come toMiami: They actually won more games on the road in the regular season (26) thanat home (24), making them the only playoff team to pull off that statisticalrarity.
“It’s great to know that you can win on the road, but again, Miami couldcare less about our regular season record on the road,” Celtics coach DocRivers said. “And we should care less about it. We have to come to play andearn it. The playoffs are a different beast.”
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