Brian Windhorst seems to believe Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals was a sign of things to come for the Heat.
Miami couldn’t get anything going offensively Monday night at TD Garden. The Heat, who were playing without Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro, only received 18 (!) points from their entire starting lineup and ultimately suffered a 20-point loss at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
Injuries might have played a big role in the East’s top-seeded team mightily struggling to score points Monday. Windhorst appears to believe that to be true, and the NBA insider can’t help but wonder if it will prove to be a deciding factor in the best-of-seven set.
“I remember one of the baskets he (Jimmy Butler) made, he got so little lift on that jumper that he almost shotputted it,” Windhorst said on “The Hoop Collective.” “Like, the angle at which the ball went to the basket — it was, like, unnatural. So, he can say whatever he wants. He just didn’t look right. Kyle Lowry is coming back from this hamstring (injury), he’s not right. Tyler Herro missed the game. These are three of their best offensive players. The Heat, their challenge is scoring in the half court and right now, if you include Bam Adebayo, three of their four best offensive players are injured or hurting or limping or whatever. Even though it’s 2-2 with the Heat having home court, I just don’t know if they’re going to be able to score enough points to pull out two of these next three.”
Wednesday night will be telling for the Heat. If they encounter struggles even similar to the ones experienced Monday, their season very well could be over by late Friday night.
