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The Miami Heat had apparently just won the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday. When they won Game 3 against the Boston Celtics, they extended their lead in the series to 3-0. No NBA team has ever lost a 3-0 lead in the series, but the Celtics are making a strong move into history with big wins in Games 4 and 5. Now on the defensive, the Heat will play their final home game of the series on Saturday when they host Boston for Game 6.
It’s a game the Heat are fully confident they will win. At least that’s what Jimmy Butler, who guaranteed victory after Miami’s loss in Game 5, believes. “We will always remain positive and know that we can and will win this series,” said Butler told reporters. “We’ll just have to lock it up at home.”
Home teams tend to be big favorites in any playoff game, especially the games later in the series. The Celtics could be the rare exception. Boston has actually been better away (5-3) than at home (5-5) this postseason. Over the long regular season, Miami’s home record (27-14) wasn’t much better than Boston’s away record (25-16), and the Celtics had a better away net rating (up-3.3) than Miami’s home record (up-1.1) . The Heat will have home field advantage in Game 6, but the numbers suggest that won’t be a huge advantage.
That was true last season when these two teams met in the playoffs and the home team won only two of the seven games. That included Boston’s Game 7 victory en route to a surefire entry into the NBA Finals. Of course, Butler almost avoided that win with two of the best games of his career and ended that streak. He scored 47 points in Game 6 and effectively clinched the single-game Eastern Conference championship a season ago, and then nearly stole Game 7 with a 35-point feat. He was three points short.
Butler has been even better for most of this postseason, guiding a No. 8-seeded player to the brink of the NBA Finals for the first time since the Knicks got there in 1999. But Game 6 will be his biggest challenge yet. The Heat have lost two games in a row. They are missing two key players in Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, and Gabe Vincent could also be out after missing Game 5 with a sprained ankle. The responsibility rests with Butler to win this game for Miami, and if his comments after Thursday’s game were any indication, then he plans to do just that.