There’s only one question about the Miami Heat today, and it’s not how they match up against the New York Knicks, or who will be healthy, or even whether that old Heat-Knicks rivalry has any embers today (it doesn’t).
That’s for tomorrow.
Todays’ question: How did the Heat just pull off the biggest upset in NBA history?
Only six, eighth-seeded teams have beaten a top seed. So this was rare ground the Heat walked in. Throw in the idea Milwaukee was healthy for the last two games while the Heat were without their second-best offensive player in Tyler Herro and rotational player in Victor Oladipo and there’s no debate.
So, again, how did they do it?
- Jimmy Butler. This was his series. Fifty-six points in Game 4? Forty-two in the closing Game 5? Playoff Jimmy now has nine postseason games of more than 40 points in his four Heat years — one more than Dwyane Wade had in his 15 Heat seasons. No one in the league does more in the playoffs.
- Erik Spoelstra. When the anonymous poll of NBA general managers names Spoelstra the NBA’s best coach again next year, this series will be Exhibit A. He didn’t have the best players this series. He didn’t even have the healthiest players in the deciding games.
“We all know it’s a player’s league, but I’d say just his in-game strategy put them in position to win two games,’ an NBA scout said. “That’s not even getting into ideas he’s obviously worked on through the season with this team in putting people in roles he wants to have and the mindset for a series like this.”
In Game 1, the Heat plan was to push the ball up the court before Milwaukee set up its defense. This was one of the scout’s reference’s to Spoelstra’s strategy. Here were the times the Heat had the ball before their opening 12 shots that night: 10, 8, 5, 14, 6, 14, 5, 13, 21, 9, 6 and 6 seconds.
“Milwaukee looked a little surprised by it,’ the scout said. “I’m not sure they were ready.”
The Heat threw that first punch and set a tone in leading after the first quarter 33-24. They went on to take Game 1 in a manner that said what they can do in the series.
On to the final minutes of Game 5.
“He’d been holding onto this idea, I’d guess,’ the scout said. “Maybe it was in other games this series, but not to the extent it was here.”
With about eight minutes left, Bam Adebayo began handling the ball at the point, drawing 7-foot Milwaukee center Brook Lopez out of the lane with him. The Heat’s big man is a deft passer, and Butler began working the open space of the lane.
Down 103-97, Adebayo’s first pass resulted in a turnover. But over the closing minutes Adebayo fed Butler inside for four straight baskets. He made two other mid-range shots when Lopez sagged off him.
“It’s a subtle thing sometimes, watching adjustments coaches make,’ the scout said.
Talent wins in the NBA. But coaching has a role. Chris Bosh talks of how Spoelstra kept substituting him, in and out, during fouls shots for preferred matchups.
Against San Antonio in an epic Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, Bosh was sent in between foul shots. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich didn’t get a big player to match against Bosh. That resulted in Bosh getting a rebound over 6-8 Boris Diaw and passing to Ray Allen for a legendary 3-point shot that avoided elimination and turned the tide to bring the title in Game 7.
That coaching didn’t make the shot. But it had role in setting it up. Look at Milwaukee’s questions today: Why didn’t it try 6-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo, a defensive player of the year, on Butler? Why didn’t it call time-out with a half-second left in regulation to give a chance for a shot? How did it lose to an injured eighth seed?
Sometimes great coaching isn’t about the questions being asked. It’s about the ones that never are.
“He had his fingerprints all over this game,’ is a favorite Spoelstra lined he used again about Adebayo in the end.
Adebayo wasn’t great this series. He was great in the final quarter, though. But it wasn’t just he and Butler who had their fingerprints on an upset for the ages. That will be clear when the anonymous NBA poll of GMs picks Spoelstra again as the league’s top coach.
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