Welcome into NBA Polster production of iHeartMedia and the NBA. I'm Syracusetock, NBA analyst for the Yes Network, and today is Friday, May twenty six, and we got a special guest on this Friday, South Florida Zone, ESPN Zone Israel Gutiras and Is. It's a thrill to have you on here with us because what a series this has been for the Miami Heat in the Boston Celtics. Is Boston now stays alive? But first of all, great to have you on and great to see you well.
Thank you, thank you. It's funny.
I was just texting with a friend who grew up down here in Miami but now lives up in New York, and he was all nervous and saying, man, what do you think the Heat's going to do in Game six? And I'm just like, Hey, isn't this fun? Like did you really expect this to happen? So don't be nervous, just kind of see what happens. And I think that's kind of where I'm at with this run. It's just a lot of fun to watch and it's just surprising that it happens to be team in town.
Well for Miami Heat. Yeah, Miami Heat fans probably a lot more fun a few days ago, the fact that the Heat jumped out to that three to zero series lead. Never in NBA history has a team come back from three to zero. But by all accounts, you got a lot of people and a lot of chatter coming out of Boston hoping that this could be the team. And they certainly looked like a team that had changed their attitude and changed their mentality, in particular last night at
TV Garden one ten ninety seven win. Two times, people comes, Tatum, comeside.
Snort teams.
And from the start they were excellent. Jump out to a thirty five to twenty first quarter lead, and whether it was a three point shooting, once again, the pace, the fast break points turning Miami over. Obviously the Heat playing without Cape Vincent Kyle Lowry getting the starts, but a lot of facets in this game, of which the Celtics started to look like the team that had them is one of the favorites entering the playoffs in what
they could do in postseason. What stood out to you with the way that Boston was able to play against this Miami team that really has exceeded a lot of people's expectation throughout the course of this playoffs and in particular the series.
Well, there's two things that stood out to me. One was the defensive pressure. Nothing, no pass was easy for Miami.
No you know, dribbled.
No, you know, Marcus Smart just clean steals a couple of times of guys off the dribble, and so that was a lot more intense, a little surprised that the heat kind of looked like they didn't expect that. You know, there weren't a lot of backdoor cuts. There weren't a lot of relief buckets against that pressure, and so that was something that the Celtics just had in their favor pretty much the entire game, and you know, Miami didn't really adjust to it, whether it be strategically or just
in terms of, uh matching that effort. And then the other thing is the Celtics and this was a good strategy. They decided to make all their shots at least early enough to where you know, Derek White just looked like, you know, you cannot leave him open for half a second off to White. You know, Jalen Brown went from odd airball like free throws in game four or game three four, and then you know, an airball in his first shot in game five to all of a sudden
looking like his normal self again. And then I'd say the last thing that sort of stood out was Jason Tatum not forcing the issue. I feel like so many eyes were on him in game three, he didn't really perform Game four, he returned, and you would think, based on his history that that meant this was going to be a high volume shooting game for him in game five to carry the team, and it wasn't. It was
a high assist game. It was an eleven assist game for Jason sure comes Tatum twelve in the first quarter, score was in the second one to three.
Yeah, why is absolutely on fire?
And he played great and all those you know turnovers that looked like there was some sort of ghost pushing the ball out of the Celtics hands in Game three, that was now happening to the heat in game four, in game five, where it seemed like any time bam Adebayo put the ball on the ground it was Heat players, it was Celtics players rather swiping at it and getting
a turnover. And that's basically what Miami has been doing all postseason leading the NBA postseason teams, and deflections in loose balls recovered in charges taken as well, and so those things weren't really there.
And I also think just because.
I'm mentioning the charge is taken thing, I feel like that is the only place where Joe Mizzoula is going to use his challenges just to kind of kill the mythology of hey, they don't take a bunch of charges. You guys just call a lot of charges for them. So watch when I challenge them, You're going to overturn everyone.
Well, and you mentioned it, Joe Missoula had been under a lot of heat, a lot of scrutiny throughout the course of those first couple of games, and his seemingly, you know, push some of the right buttons, I think, but also just as players playing harder, I mean you talked about it, the defensive pressure. Twenty seven points off turnovers for the Celtics, Jason Tatum with eleven assists, there was nice balance and they did an excellent job too, I think to your point of just how they were
able to flow into the offense. And when you look at Miami, going back to South Beach, they get to go home Game six, they still do have this three to two series lead. But what do Eric Spolstro, Jimmy Butler this group, what do they need to do differently in game six to get back to playing the way that they were early on in try and close out this series?
Well?
For starters, you know, everybody seems to want Bam out of Bay or at least those who want the Heat to do well.
They seem to what bam.
Out of Bio to translate into a score all of a sudden, And when you look at yesterday's game, he would have been just as helpful, if not more helpful, if he'd just kept, say Al Horford off the boards because a lot of again you look at the Heat shooting percentage fifty to fifty one percent in that game. If they don't turn the ball over, if they don't give up offensive rebounds, the Celtics don't get those extra possessions.
And then you know, obviously they shot better than fifty percent as well, so you know they've got to look at it as Okay, Bam, I want you to score it. Don't get me wrong, but two things wou'd rather you do? A not turn the ball over. So if you need to kick it out, kick it out and be rebound the basketball in their defensive end, and we when the heat close those possessions out there, they can sort of
organize the offense. They can run if they need to, if they have the opportunity, but if not, they can at least organize the offense, get Jimmy the ball, maybe get him to the foul line.
And so I think that's where it starts.
It starts with, you know, Bam not necessarily being an offense presence, but being a rebounding presence and being a defensive presence where kind of reminds him. Maybe they show him the tape of the Atlanta play in where Clint Capello was just grabbing rebounds all over the place, and as Iron Eagle said on the call, it's just the same highlight over and over again with the Hawk players getting rebounds and kicking it out for another bucket. Well,
that's what Bam needs to avoid him this one. And Al Horford and Robert Williams can't have that big of an impact of a game, you know, And then you just need something from those outset, from those perimeter shooters.
If you gave Vincent'll be back if he gets hot again, or Duncan Robinson or Max Steus, any of those guys to sort of just maybe take a little bit of the attention away from Jimmy and then let sort of Jimmy operate while the defense has to worry about everybody else on the court, because that in this series, that's what's worked best. It hasn't been just Jimmy going off
for twenty straight points. It's hey, let's see what other role players can't force the Celtics defense attention away from Jimmy, and if they don't, hey, they're going to be wide open. And so far, you know, guys like Gabe and Caleb Martin have have taken advantage of that. So I think you're going to see a lot more of that. I think you're going to need a lot more of that
from Miami. And I think when you talk about Eric Sposter needing one or his turn, would you say to make the adjustments and you're going into a home closeout game, I think that's probably the perfect scenario for Miami. They're going to be sort of ahead, one step ahead theoretically in the game plan, and then they know if they
just play with effort. They'll probably get a few home court calls and you know, ideally pull out this victory and have the Celtics looking back at Game two at home really regretting how they ended that one.
Well, with that being said, is he that I'm going to put you on the spot a prediction both for Game six and also just your perspective and how desperately Miami does need to win Game six if they want to win this series.
I've watched this team enough the last four years to say they don't have to win Game six because they've gone into Boston and just done some amazing things, or on the road in general and done some amazing things even in the playoffs or in the postseason the last few years. But I think they desperately want to win
it at home. I think, you know, part of the pregame speech from Eric Spolster is going to be like, Hey, this is going to feel just like last year's Game seven, and that one ended not in our favor, very close, but not in our favor. So to avoid that, avoid the close game situation at the end, really make it one of those Game three type of situations where it seems like an avalanche where for the Celtics and there's nothing they can do about it. That's kind of the
feel they need to get. Fortunately for the heat, though they've been involved in more close games than anybody in the league this year, so if it comes down to that, you know, they still are well positioned. But I think Miami will win Game six. I think, you know, big performances from guys like Caleb Martin and then like I mentioned, the defensive and rebounding performances from Bam. If you do that, there's not all the pressure on Jimmy, and Jimmy will
probably find ways to get his points. So I think it's funny because we've been sort of selling the Celtics' motivation as rebounding from last year's finals, such a painful loss. I don't think they had the most painful loss of the postseason. I think that was Miami at home in a Game seven, with a shot by Jimmy Butler to.
End it, and that was the memory that.
They're going to use as their fuel in this game. And I don't know if the Celtics have that same fuel to match, because if they did, I don't think they would have been down oh three Frankly.
Get out the popcorn. I know we're already Saturday Game six at Miami that's at eight thirty pm on TNT. And this has been a fun run, but there was a glorious four years in Miami Heat history from twenty ten to twenty fourteen. You are the host of a new podcast, Four Years of Heat. We will get to that right after Welcome back to be Paul Sarahkhustak joined by the great Israel Gutierra is ESPN's own NBA reporter.
On your personality, you do it all and now you also host an extraordinary podcast called the four Years of Heat, and it's about the four years Lebron James spent with Dwayne Wade Chris Bosh. You grew up in South Florida. You cover the Heat for both ESPN Miami Herald during the course of that time. I know we all loved watching that team and just all the different parts of how it came together and also what they accomplished. The
first episode is already out. What have you now learned covering the Heat and sharing with it, but even just starting this podcast and things that you'll be able to share with listeners about that great time for Miami Heat.
Well, one thing I learned is that if you stick around long enough in the business, people call you things like legend, so thank you, but just been around for a while. True, Sure, I've learned that, you know, living here through that while still covering it. You know, I started off with the Big three air out stilt the Miami Herald as a columnist at the time, and.
So it felt so intense, so.
Hyper local, but also like us against the world type of situation, you know, even though you know, as an objective journalist, I'm not thinking or feeling that way. But you see it all around you, right, you hear it all around you. I listen to, you know, sports radio all the time, and so it was just fiery all the time. And it wasn't like what we're used to, which is that in a football season where you sort of discuss things as the week goes on and you
sort of bubble up to the Sunday. This was like every day, every time there's a game, it's like, oh, no, you know what's gonna happen, or oh yeah, look what happened, and it was it was it was crazy intense. And then when I switched over to ESPN. I realized that, and everybody is covering this team this way, and going back through it all makes me just kind of realize
the fervor that was around that team. The kind of like, honestly, going back with the stories with the players and stuff is you know, it's always fun, right, especially guys that want to talk about these things and want to get into the finer details. But a lot of the time you look at just the perspective and the way people were thinking at the time, and man, we would cover
this team so differently if it was today. In fact, I think the team itself would be handled so differently if it happened today, because this was ten years ago, right, And you think of load management, and you think of guys playing, you know, currently maybe thirty seven thirty eight minutes to lead the league, Like you had a Heat team where Eric Spolster in his third years playing their Big three forty five minutes in like a November December game,
and it's just like, what are we doing? That never would have happened in twenty twenty three. So just those little details kind of put you in a place that you realize it's it's different than it was than it is now.
What was what was? Obviously we know the talent, we know the success they had, but with the way that that team came together, what was unique about those stars that group? Eric Spolstra, pat Riley. We continue to see this and talk about Heat culture, but what was unique about that group in particular?
Well, it's why it's so funny because this Heat team has won a championship with almost a pressure free like that was pressure for Shaq, but you know, yeah, not as much.
Right.
We wanted to see if Dwayne Wade could be that partner for him. You weren't sure. Boom, they did win a championship felt great because you had you knew you had another decade plus of Dwayne Wade, and that feels great. This one it was entirely different because it was championship pressure, not just like one, but multiple championship pressure placed on them right away. And if you really look back at it, was it pressure on everybody or was it just to
get Lebron his championship? Like that was he was the main character in this story. He was who everybody would say, if we win a championship for Slash with that guy, then we all win.
But really they.
Wanted for him, meaning the media of the world, the fans, and that was just an intense level of pressure. And what I think was unique about this team was they took what you mentioned the Heat culture, the Heat way of sort of facing everything up front, eye to eye, face to face, don't sweep anything under the rug, don't mumble under your breath, like, let's just handle our situations. And early on Lebron had to sort of figure out what that dynamic meant. And what that meant was, Hey,
you and your teammates are peers. We're all in this together. It's the only way we can have this bunker mentality is if we're all honest with each other. And they sort of grew to understand what the mission was, and Lebron was like, all right, I know for me not to be selfish, but everybody has to look out for themselves first.
And so Lebron's like.
For me, I need to win, and if I believe, if you believe that this is the way to do it, cool, fine, Eventually I'm in. It might have taken him twenty games,
thirty games, whatever, but he was in. And then you know, they went through their stumble at in that in that eleven Finals and where it could have crumbled a little bit, they instead, meaning Duaye Lebron, James, Eric Spolstra, all those who felt like they could have done more, looked internally that offseason, and then sort of repaired themselves the next season.
And I think the big takeaway that I take from revisiting this is the patience that you need to build something that great like no matter how good the players are, it takes so much to win an NBA championship, And if you don't have sort of the game plan, the blueprint, the mentality and the ability, you're just not going to finish the deal. And they had that far finally that second year, and to just to tie it into this year's team, nobody wanted the Heat to run it back.
They didn't want just to have Hey, Caleb Martin, you take PJ. Tucker's place, Let's do this again. They watched through the regular.
Season and said, see, I told you so.
But what Eric Spoltzer and the Heat are saying right back to everybody else is no, we told you so, stick with it, believe.
In our process.
If you will not to steal anything from Philadelphia, and in the end, you're going to get the best out of who you are. And back then it took the best out of the best player in the world to win two championships and make four finals in a row. And right now it's taking you know, the best out of a guy who's probably the biggest competitor in the league right now, Jimmy Butler and a bunch of you know,
really gritty guys around them. So the process, the mentality remains the same, just the pieces are different.
Is you got me hype?
You got me hype?
Four years of Heat. As I said, episode one is already out. Episode two will drop on Tuesday. A great table setter as we get set for Game six as this Heat team leads the Boston Celtics three games to two in the Eastern Conference Final. It's real, Gutierre, as you really are the best. We appreciate your time and we look forward to hearing, seeing, listening to you as these finals continue.
Thank you, sir.
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