Celtics Looking To Avoid ‘Dangerous’ Mindset Entering Heat Series

The Miami Heat will roll into TD Garden on Sunday looking to do the impossible, as they seek to become the first No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in back-to-back seasons.

It’s going to be damn near impossible against this Boston Celtics squad, though.

The C’s have had that top seed locked up for weeks, and might just be the most talented basketball team we’ve seen in the last half-decade. It’s not like we’ve all forgotten about the recent history between these two teams, though.

Boston and Miami have met in three of the last four postseasons, each matchup coming in the Eastern Conference finals. The Heat, despite oftentimes being viewed as the inferior team, are 2-1 in those series. The Celtics don’t intend on having any of that impact their approach to this meeting, though.

“It could be dangerous because then you can look at two years ago or look at the bubble year,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said following Saturday’s practice, per Justin Turpin of WEEI. “What matters is focusing on the present. It’s about what we’ve worked on, because every series, every playoffs, every team takes on a life of its own and an identity of its own.

“We spent the year establishing out identity, and I think it’s important to continue establishing it throughout the playoffs because each series will be different… We kind of talked about it all year, that there’s really no difference between the regular season and the playoffs. It’s just simple details under higher duress. It comes down to the margins, and we’ve got to be ready to win them.”

Boston shouldn’t have too much trouble with Miami, especially considering the latter will be without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier likely for the entirety of the series. The Celtics need to keep things in front of them and take care of business, though.