The Miami Heat probably were feeling pretty darn good about themselves Saturday night.
The top-seeded Heat had complete control over the first 2022 Eastern Conference finals game played at TD Garden. Miami even managed to maintain its stranglehold on Game 3 against the Celtics despite playing the entire second half without Jimmy Butler.
But on Monday night in Boston, the Heat were brought back down to earth.
Game 4 never even came close to being competitive. The Celtics stormed out of the gate to the tune of an 18-1 run to start the game and never looked back, keeping their foot firmly on the gas en route to a 102-82 win. The best-of-seven set is now tied at two games apiece.
There’s no doubt in Butler’s mind that Miami can rebound from Monday night’s disaster. And in the eyes of the six-time All-Star, the mission to bounce back starts with getting back to basics.
“Keep the game extremely simple,” Butler told reporters, per ESPN. “Whenever we tend to do that, we tend to play well. When anybody tries to hit a home run and do it by themselves, we kind of get in trouble. Ball sticks. We turn the ball over. We take a bad shot. We just need to do everything together like we’ve been doing all year long.
“It will be on myself, on Kyle (Lowry), on Bam (Adebayo) to make sure that we make that happen.”
Oddsmakers aren’t very high on the Heat’s prospects for Wednesday night. Boston currently is a 1-point road favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook for Game 5 at FTX Arena.
