BOSTON
The Miami Heat’s rivalry with the New York Knicks became a story line when they faced off in the second round of this year’s playoffs, but that was a rivalry from the past that reached its peak more than 20 years ago.
But the Heat’s rivalry with the Boston Celtics is fresh and real, as the teams face off in the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in four seasons. Game 1 is Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. at TD Garden (TNT).
“I just don’t think overall that we necessarily like them and we know they don’t like us,” Heat guard Gabe Vincent said after the team’s shootaround session Wednesday morning. “So whether you call it a rivalry or whatever name you want to put on it, they will be our competition tonight.”
The Heat eliminated the Celtics in the 2020 East finals in the Walt Disney World bubble to begin this four-year stretch. Last season’s East finals between the Heat and Celtics went the full seven games before Boston ultimately won Game 7 in Miami.
This year’s matchup will break that 1-1 tie in the East finals, as the Heat enters as the underdog No. 8 seed and the Celtics enter as the No. 2 seed and heavy favorites.
“It’s personal to everybody now,” Heat forward Max Strus said Wednesday morning. “Everybody was here last year. The guys that weren’t have taken that on and they know what happened last year, and we take that personal. We should come out and show it tonight.”
This year’s series marks the sixth time the Heat and Celtics have met in the playoffs. Prior to these three recent East finals matchups, the Celtics won a first-round series against the Heat in 2010 before the Heat won the next two playoff series against the Celtics during the Big 3 era (a second-round series in 2011 and the conference finals in 2012).
“I think you want to embrace all those things,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the team’s playoff history with the Celtics. “You get to this point, you really treasure these opportunities and you face a team three times in four years, you don’t get that very often. We have great respect for them. We’ve had some really good battles with them.
“That all ends up being in the past, so it’s really good for the fans, it’s good for the fan bases. I think there’s good narratives for all of you. But we have a big task that we want to get accomplished this postseason and Boston is in our way.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Strus was actually a member of the Celtics once, albeit briefly.
After going undrafted out of DePaul in 2019, Strus spent summer league and training camp with the Celtics before he was waived just before the 2019-20 season.
Does Strus still use that as motivation when he plays against the Celtics?
“I wouldn’t say I have a personal vendetta against anybody or anything like that,” Strus said. “They gave me an opportunity, I was happy about it. But I like to think it’s their loss that I’m not here anymore. I’m here with Miami and we’re ready to change what happened last year.”
▪ The Heat actually fared well in Boston during last year’s East finals, winning two of the three games played at TD Garden during the seven-game series.
“It’s better than not,” Spoelstra said when asked about the value of last season’s postseason experience in Boston. “But again, our guys love these kind of competitive environments. This is one of the best places to compete. The fan base is so passionate. You definitely feel alive when you’re in this building and our guys love playing in front of our home fans, but they love these kind of environments to challenge themselves.”
The first two games of the best-of-7 East finals will be in Boston before the series moves to Miami for Game 3 and 4. Then, if necessary, Game 5 will be in Boston, Game 6 will be in Miami and Game 7 will be in Boston.
