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The Miami Heat seemingly had the Eastern Conference finals won as lately as Sunday. When they won Game three against the Boston Celtics, they pushed their series lead up to three-. No NBA group has ever blown a three- series lead, but the Celtics are creating a sturdy push towards history with large wins in Games four and five. Now the Heat are on the defensive, and they play their final household game of the series on Saturday when they host Boston for Game six.
It is a game the Heat totally count on to win. At least Jimmy Butler thinks so, as he assured victory just after Miami’s Game five loss. “We’re usually going to remain good recognizing that we can and we will win this series,” Butler told reporters. “We’ll just have to close it out at household.”
House teams are generally massive favorites in any playoff game, specifically these that come later in a series. The Celtics could present the uncommon exception. Boston has really been much better on the road this postseason (five-three) than it has been at household (five-five). More than the lengthy normal-season sample, Miami’s household record (27-14) wasn’t substantially much better than Boston’s road record (25-16), and the Celtics had a much better road net rating (plus-three.three) than Miami’s at household (plus-1.1). The Heat will have the household-court edge in Game six, but the numbers recommend that will not be substantially of an benefit.
That was accurate final season, when these two teams met in the playoffs and the household group won only two of the seven games. That integrated Boston’s Game 7 victory on the road to clinch their trip to the NBA Finals. Of course, Butler practically prevented that victory with two of the finest games of his profession to finish that series. He scored 47 points in Game six to efficiently develop a one particular-game Eastern Conference championship a season ago, and then he practically stole Game 7 with a 35-point masterpiece. He came one particular three-pointer brief.
Butler has been even much better for substantially of this postseason, guiding a No. eight seed to the brink of the NBA Finals for the initially time given that the 1999 Knicks produced it all the way there. But Game six will present his toughest challenge but. The Heat have lost two games in a row. They are missing two essential function players in Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, and Gabe Vincent might also be out just after sitting for Game five with an ankle sprain. The onus is going to be on Butler to win this game for Miami, and if his post-game comments on Thursday have been any indication, he plans to do just that.
