Heat faces Celtics in 1st round after epic duel with ECF last season

BOSTON (AP) — As the Boston Celtics prepare for what they hope will be their final run at the NBA title, coach Joe Mazzulla has asked his team to take inspiration from past NBA champions.

The list included arch-rivals like the Los Angeles Lakers and their run in 2010, as well as the last Boston team to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2008.

“Every path is different,” Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum said. “The 2008 team had two Game 7s in the first and second rounds. He just prepares us. It won’t always happen the way we expect or want it to happen. And we must be ready for that.

It’s a lesson Boston learned last season when the Miami Heat beat the Celtics 3-0 in the Eastern Conference finals, before beating Boston at TD Garden in Game 7 to end its title hopes.

The teams are expected to meet again starting Sunday after the Heat outlasted the Chicago Bulls in the play-in round to win a game against the top-seeded Celtics.

The advantage appears to lean toward Boston, which swept the regular-season series.

This year’s first-round game won’t have the stakes of the NBA Finals. It also won’t feature Jimmy Butler, whose injured right knee won’t allow him to compete with Miami in the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023.

“I mean, it’s the story of the underdog, right? David versus Goliath,” Heat forward Kevin Love said. “That’s why you have to roll the ball and play. You have to understand that anything can happen in this game. Obviously, beating a team like Boston is an incredibly difficult battle. They played like the best team in the league all year.

The Heat are fully aware that few expect them to win the series. This is No. 1 versus No. 8, where an upset has only occurred four times in a best-of-seven series — although one of those occurred last year when Miami ousted Milwaukee in five games.

“I honestly think we can just play for free,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “With Jimmy out and then on the road, the odds are against us, no one expects us to win. But I think things can change if we get one in Boston. So we’re going to bring everything we can to try to get one.

Miami’s plan is simple: make Boston work for everything. If the Celtics go for it, the Heat will be in huge trouble.

“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “It’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be in the mud. It’s not going to be pretty basketball. That’s usually how it goes when you see this team. That’s usually how it happens. It’s super competitive and everyone always plays their best basketball in this series.

Boston promises not to take anything for granted this time.

“We have to be prepared for the unexpected,” Tatum said. “The playoffs present a lot of different challenges, game to game. And you have to be ready to respond and react. Because you never know exactly what’s coming.

NEW FACES

The Celtics’ offseason roster shakeup that sent out Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams III in favor of All-Star Jrue Holiday and 7-footer Kristaps Porzingis proved useful.

Holiday has accepted a reduced scoring role, while still remaining an offensive starter and defensive mainstay. Porzingis has given the Celtics a new dimension via his ability to space the floor and protect the rim.

Porzingis expects his first playoff experience with the Celtics to be memorable. His first taste of the playoffs with the Mavericks came in the Florida bubble. Its only other came the following season in partially full arenas after the pandemic.

“It’s going to be special,” he said.

HERRO RETURN

Herro missed all 19 minutes of Miami’s run to the NBA Finals last season. He broke his hand in the first game of the first round against Milwaukee and did not return.

Now that Butler is out, Herro must take on a huge role.

“It means a lot to be healthy and have this opportunity,” Herro said. “Being on the front line means a lot. And I hope everything goes well so I can prove what I can do.

RANGE CHANGES

The Heat have used 36 different starting lineups this season (including a new one in the play-in round) and will open Game 1 on Sunday with their fourth different lineup in as many games against the Celtics this season.

Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro are the only Miami players to start all three Heat-Celtics games so far this season. It is certain that Sunday will be different from the others because Miami started Kyle Lowry (who now plays in Philadelphia) in one of these games and Terry Rozier (neck injury) in the other two.