Spoelstra credits ‘mature’ Celtics team, felt they wanted to end the series originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics will advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals after beating the Miami Heat 118-84 on Wednesday night to close out the series in five games, completing their revenge against the team that beat them in the Eastern Conference final just a year ago.
Over the past 12 months, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has noticed a difference in the Celtics — something he felt the need to highlight following his team’s Game 5 loss that ended the series.
“You have to give credit to Boston,” Spoelstra told reporters at his post-game press conference. “They took control of this game. You could tell they wanted it to end now, tonight, and not let it get back to Miami. That’s the sign of a mature team.”
Last May, the second-seeded Celtics faced the eighth-seeded Heat in a series that many predicted would be short in Boston’s favor, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. The Celtics let the Heat take a 3-0 series lead, and although the C’s were able to come back to force a Game 7, they ultimately fell short.
Spoelstra’s comments about the Celtics’ maturity should give the Boston team and its fans confidence moving forward – this is not the same team it was a year ago. The Celtics learned from past mistakes and came together as a group, sacrificing individual accolades to put the goal of winning a championship at the forefront.
After the Heat’s stunning Game 2 victory to even the series, when Miami collectively made a franchise playoff record 23 3-pointers on a 53.5 percent average, the Celtics adjusted. The Heat didn’t hit as many 3s the rest of the series, making just 21 3-pointers at a 23.2 percent clip over the final three games.
“Let’s not chalk it up to the fact that we had some injuries,” Spoelstra said after Game 5. “Let’s not take anything away from Boston. in this series in four of the games. They played like it.”
With business resolved in Miami, the Celtics will have a well-deserved rest while awaiting the definition of the next match. Boston’s opponent in the second round will be the winner of the Cavaliers-Magic series.
