When LeBron James hit a 3-pointer to put the Heat up by six, also putting them up for good, he just stood there, staring straight ahead at nothing. It was almost eerie. It was almost as if James, who was realizing that he was finally able to send the Celtics packing, needed a minute to really assess the situation.
Even the King himself probably couldn't believe he had done it.
What followed was even more proof of what the Heat's Eastern Conference semifinals win over the Celtics really meant to them.
Moments before the final horn, after an offensive foul killed what was essentially the final possession for Boston, Dwyane Wade sprinted down the court, came to a stop and uncorked a hellacious right-handed hammer to air.
Don't forget that, unlike LeBron, Wade knows what postseason success tastes like. He actually has a championship ring in his trophy case already. Despite that, the future Hall of Famer acted as if the Heat had won another title, and not just dispatched a lower-seeded team in the second round.
It didn't end there, either. James continued his antics after the final horn sounded, falling to a knee for more deep, personal reflection. He knelt there for a few seconds, head bowed, soaking it all in. He then went and found Wade. The two embraced in what was the definition of a man hug. It lasted 5 or 6 seconds, but it felt like it lasted 15 minutes.
Then, Craig Sager, looking as he usually does, like the lovechild of a pear and an orange, grabbed James and asked about the significance of the moment on the TNT broadcast.
"First of all, I wanna give a lot of thanks to the Boston Celtics," James said, apparently tripping over his words, unlesss of course he was thanking the C's for an abysmal fourth quarter, in which case, well-played, LBJ.
"They make you work for every bit," he continued. "You can never take your foot off the gas. My respect for that team. … Great team. Like I said,I've got the utmost respect for this team. They're the reason the three of us came together."
James also restated what he said in days prior, hammering home the fact that the Celtics were "the blueprint" for what the Heat did this summer when James, Wade and Chris Bosh all joined forces in Miami.
The sequence, from James' 3-pointer all the way to the flattering (and perhaps a little bit hollow) words from James, it was clear to see that beating the Celtics was almost as important for the Heat as winning an NBA title.
The Heat believe that they will win multiple titles — or at least that's what they said this offseason. But for them to truly believe what they were saying, they were going to have to go through the Celtics. Not only did they do that, they did so in pretty convincing fashion.
They dispatched a rapidly aging Celtics team, and they did so by dominating the C's down the stretch. When things mattered most, James (for really the first time in his career) and the Heat as a team, stepped up when it mattered most. Miami won crunch time for the majority of the season.
James' revelation that the Celtics are what the Heat strive to be makes sense. In the past few years, there aren't many teams, save for the Lakers maybe, that you'd want to use as a blueprint. The Heat — particularly their Big Three — want what the Celtics have. But to get it, they had to go through the Celtics. They did that on Wednesday night.
It's not an excuse for an excessive celebration for a team that just won a second-round series, but what do you expect? This is a team that had more pyrotechnics than an episode of Monday Night Raw to introduce Wade, James and Bosh this summer. They do things big.
Celtics fans won't take much solace in this, but the outpouring of emotion shown on the winning side on Wednesday night is proof enough that the Celtics are still a relevant force in the NBA. With some alterations, they'll be back next year to prove that even further, and you can bet they'll want the Heat again.
