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Good morning to everyone but especially to...
THE MIAMI HEAT
Two things can be true: First, the Heat were a mediocre regular-season team with an underwhelming offense and downright bad perimeter shooting. It nearly caused them to miss the playoffs and had few believing in them once they got there.
Second, the Heat in the playoffs will out-coach, out-hustle, out-smart and, apparently, out-shoot you. Oh yeah, and they have Jimmy Butler... and a terrific, unsung supporting cast... and, thanks to a 123-116 win over the Celtics last night, a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Butler had 35 points, seven assists, six steals and five rebounds. It's only the fifth time that's been done in a playoff game. The others? Michael Jordan (twice), Gary Payton and Rick Barry.Miami is 7-0 this postseason when Butler scores over 25 points.Butler wasn't alone. Bam Adebayo was terrific with 20 points and eight rebounds, and four more Heat players (Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin) scored 15 points apiece.Miami, whose 34.4% 3-point shooting in the regular season ranked 27th in the NBA, nailed 16 of 31 attempts (52.1%) from deep. It's the second-highest 3-point percentage by any team against Boston this season, regular season or playoffs.Defensively, Miami executed its plan, running the Celtics off the 3-point arc. Boston attempted just 29 threes (and made just 10) after averaging nearly 39 attempts this postseason entering this game. Furthermore, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 10 turnovers, and in the second half, Tatum had more turnovers (three) than made shots (two, on only four attempts).
Just days after his Game 7-record 51 points, Tatum shrunk in the crucial moments, writes our Sam Quinn:
Quinn: "Jayson Tatum had a stellar first half, but his quiet second was one of the stories of the night. He turned the ball over three times without making a field goal in the fourth quarter as Boston's late-game offense imploded."Miami -- and Eric Spoelstra, who continues to outcoach everyone -- took advantage and continued to shock the world. If they do that three more times, they'll be in the finals.
Honorable mentions
And not such a good morning for...
THE MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
A disappointing season has given way to a disappointing offseason for Michigan men's basketball, and things just got worse. Former North Carolina standout Caleb Love -- who announced his transfer to Michigan last month -- will not, in fact, join the Wolverines. He remains in the transfer portal.
Sources told our Matt Norlander that Love didn't have enough transferable credits to easily clear admissions at Michigan.Love averaged 15.9 points as a sophomore and made the All-Tournament team when he led the Tar Heels to the national championship game. He averaged 16.7 points last year as a junior.Love will not return to UNC.After missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, Michigan...
Juwan Howard has added (and lost) a few others through the portal, but he has a ton of work to do -- much more than he expected at this point.
