While Boston celebrated these heroes on Friday with the traditional parade in the streets of the city, on the rest of the North American continent, we are preparing for the future and are already drawing up plans to bring down the Celtics, capable of creating a real dynasty .
On the Miami side, we can count on good old Udonis Haslem to boost the morale of the troops. Present on the set of ESPN “First Take”, the former position 4 therefore preached for his parish, recalling the massacre of injuries which undermined the group throughout the season.
He believes that the Heat deserve to be cited among the Celtics' main challengers in the future, just like the Bucks of the Lillard-Middleton-Antetokounmpo trio or the Sixers of the Maxey-Embiid tandem.
“We have Duncan Robinson, Terry Rozier, Jimmy Butler, a young superstar in Bam Adebayo, another young superstar in Tyler Herro… Jaime Jaquez Jr, Niko Jovic. Why does no one ever talk about the Miami Heat? », he asked himself. “The last four or five years, it’s been the Heat or the Celtics. Milwaukee has entered the ranks, but it is always the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics who win. And we have the “Spoelstra Nostra”. So I wonder why no one ever talks about Miami. A healthy Heat is a team that can challenge Boston, as we have done so the last four years. I am fed up with all that. The hatred against the Heat must stop.”
The classic of the 2020s
Even if they had to go through the play-in these last two seasons, it is clear that Miami has been a serious contender for four years with two NBA finals and a conference final, each time with epic duels against Boston. In terms of experience, Pat Riley's protégés are therefore armored, notably with their leader Jimmy Butler, who has one year left on his guaranteed contract, and an additional year as an option.
If the 34-year-old pushes to obtain a two-year extension for $113 million, casting doubt on the intentions of the Heat, who have so far not met his demands, Udonis Haslem is for his part convinced that “Jimmy Buckets” will be ready to resume the season fully.
“We know we will have our best player. You didn't hear us say he was going somewhere. We just heard you say he was going somewhere. None of us ever said that. So what, that's not sexy enough for you because all we do is win? Because we win with guys you don’t know”he cursed again.
Udonis Haslem also took the opportunity to respond to the little dig from Jayson Tatum who, questioned by Brian Scalabrine, affirmed that trips to Miami are “always easy”while the Celtics came to celebrate their title… in Miami.
“I think he’s still drunk from the title party. There's no way he could believe something like that. Let's just say that's what he was supposed to say. Congratulations to the Boston Celtics. I'm not going to be a hater, we've clearly seen that they are the champions. We will come back in good health and we will see what happens.”
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Tyler Herro | 42 | 33.5 | 44.1 | 39.6 | 85.6 | 0.5 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 20.8 |
| Jimmy Butler | 60 | 34.0 | 49.9 | 41.4 | 85.8 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 20.8 |
| Bam Adebayo | 71 | 34.0 | 52.1 | 35.7 | 75.5 | 2.2 | 8.1 | 10.4 | 3.9 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 19.3 |
| Terry Rozier | 31 | 31.5 | 42.3 | 37.1 | 91.3 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 16.4 |
| Duncan Robinson | 68 | 28.0 | 45.0 | 39.5 | 88.9 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 12.9 |
| Jaime Jaquez, Jr. | 75 | 28.2 | 48.9 | 32.2 | 81.1 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 11.9 |
| Caleb Martin | 64 | 27.4 | 43.1 | 34.9 | 77.8 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 10.0 |
| Josh Richardson | 43 | 25.6 | 44.4 | 34.7 | 94.4 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 9.9 |
| Kevin Love | 55 | 16.8 | 44.0 | 34.4 | 78.7 | 1.1 | 5.1 | 6.1 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 8.8 |
| Kyle Lowry | 37 | 28.0 | 42.6 | 38.5 | 83.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 8.2 |
| Nikola Jovic | 46 | 19.5 | 45.2 | 39.9 | 70.2 | 0.5 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 7.7 |
| Haywood Highsmith | 66 | 20.7 | 46.5 | 39.6 | 63.9 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 6.1 |
| Patty Mills | 13 | 16.4 | 33.8 | 20.8 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 5.8 |
| Thomas Bryant | 38 | 11.6 | 57.7 | 18.2 | 87.2 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 5.7 |
| Delon Wright | 14 | 20.4 | 39.4 | 36.7 | 81.3 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 5.4 |
| Dru Smith | 9 | 14.5 | 45.5 | 41.2 | 100.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| Jamal Cain | 26 | 10.0 | 43.0 | 35.5 | 78.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 3.7 |
| Orlando Robinson | 36 | 8.4 | 50.0 | 53.3 | 76.0 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
| Cole Swider | 18 | 4.8 | 39.5 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2.3 |
| Rj Hampton | 8 | 9.5 | 28.6 | 12.5 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| Alondes Williams | 7 | 2.2 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
