Celtics' Jayson Tatum on Heat Beating Bucks: 'Wouldn't Necessarily Call It an Upset'

The Miami Heat's upset of the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2023 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs shocked the basketball world.

No. 8 Miami defeated Milwaukee 128-126 in overtime in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum to clinch a date with the New York Knicks in an East semifinal, which begins Sunday.

However, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum told reporters Thursday that he "wouldn't necessarily call it an upset."

"Miami is a really good team. Really great coach. Obviously they've got some great players. And they just made plays," Tatum added. "I guess people weren't expecting them to win, but I wouldn't call it an upset."

Celtics point guard Marcus Smart had a similar reaction.

"I wasn't too surprised. The Heat is a dangerous team. We all know the Heat play different in the playoffs, and they played the Bucks really well," Smart said. "I'm not as surprised as probably others, but I am surprised they went down the way that they went down."

Tatum and the Celtics are familiar with how difficult it is take down the Jimmy Butler-led Heat.

Boston and Miami met in the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals, and the Heat defeated the C's in six games before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

The two teams played again during the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals, and the Celtics defeated the Heat in seven games before being downed by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

During the 2022-23 campaign, the teams split their four-game season series.

It's possible the Heat and Celtics will meet again in the Eastern Conference Finals this year. However, Boston still needs to get through its first-round matchup with the Atlanta Hawks. If it can do that, it will meet the Philadelphia 76ers in the next round.