In an intense and exhausting matchup that left people excited and had their jaws dropped, the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics in game seven of the NBA's eastern conference finals to advance to the championship round. From there, they will be facing the western conference champion Denver Nuggets. The Heat are on track to become the biggest story of the NBA this year and there is exciting buzzing around for the final showdown.
Seventh place finish
After finishing in first place in the eastern conference with a 53-29 record, the Heat were looking to rebound this coming season after losing in seven games to the eventual champion Celtics in the conference finals last year.
Led by all-star players like Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Bam Adebayo, the Heat seemed in line to have another great season. Things however got off to a slow start, as the team won only two of the first seven games of the regular season during the month of October, but it wasn't long before things started picking up and the Heat started winning. Even though the month of February was a slow month, the Heat still managed to put good numbers and ended the regular season in seventh place with a 44-38 record, and clinching a spot for the play-in tournament.
After suffering a loss to the Atlanta Hawks and then a victory over the Chicago Bulls, the Heat clinched the eighth seed in the playoffs. In a stunning upset, the Heat defeated the top seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round in five games, becoming the first play-in team in league history to win a playoff series, Miami really brought the heat with a victory against the New York Knicks in six games in the eastern semifinals, setting the stage for a rematch against the Celtics in the eastern conference finals.
It would prove to be the start of an amazing series.
Avoiding the upset
In what looked to be the toughest matchup for the Heat all season turned out to be true and false. The Celtics, who finished second in the east at 57-25, looked ready to throw down, but things would go a little different this time around. After winning the first two games at TD Garden in Boston, the Heat came back to Miami ready to put a show for the home crowd.
The team would blow out the Celtics 128-108 and put them within one win away from reaching the NBA finals. Game four would prove to be a different story as the Celtics, led by Jayson Tatum's 33 point and 11 rebound performance, claimed the win. The Celtics started engineering a comeback and won games five and six, and from the look of things, were on track to become the first NBA team to win a playoff series after being down three to zero.
Game seven was on track to become one of the greatest showdowns in NBA history. The Heat got off to a great start the moment tipoff began and by the end of the first half were leading 52-41. For the rest of the game, the Heat never looked back and completed the series comeback with a 103-84 victory, advancing to the finals and preventing themselves from becoming the first NBA team to lose a playoff series after a 3-0 lead. The win was just the cherry on top for the moment, as the Heat will now face the Nuggets in the championship series.
Tough challenge ahead
With the NBA finals now set, the Heat and Nuggets will have a battle on their hands. Finishing at the top of the west at 53-29, and led by eight year veteran Nikola Jokić, the Nuggets advance to the championship series for the first time in league history, not counting their appearance in the ABA finals in 1976, which was the year before the franchise joined the NBA.
If the Heat win the finals, it will be the third championship trophy for head coach Eric Spoelstra and will leave fans in South Beach cheering in the streets. Overall, it's going to be an action packed series that basketball fans will enjoy.
