The Heat currently own a 2-1 lead over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, though Miami has played Boston from behind more than they’d prefer.
“I think it gets old, playing from behind consistently,” Jimmy Butler told reporters after the Heat’s Game 3 loss, via ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “Especially against a great team like Boston and what they bring to the table.”
The Heat have overcome several double-figure deficits so far this series. At one point in Game 3, Boston held a whopping 20-point lead over Miami. The Heat clawed their way back, but couldn’t complete the comeback as they had in the previous two games.
Bam Adebayo, who racked up 27 points and 16 rebounds in Saturday’s loss, acknowledged Miami’s shortcomings.
“We’ve got to start the game how we start the fourth,” the Heat star said. “I feel like we’re not the type of team where we can go through the motions and try and figure out everything in the first half, and then in the third or fourth, we just try to turn it on. It’s not like that. We are not that type of team.”
So, what kind of team does Adebayo want the Heat to be?
“We’ve got to play with detail,” he said. “I feel like we’ve got to work on our offense a little bit. They got us on our heels. They were out there hooping it up and having fun. I feel like that was the big difference in the game. They jumped out on us, and I guess they got tired of us being down 13 and coming back and winning. We’ve just got to do a better job of not letting ourselves get in a big deficit.”
Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals tips off Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
