Celtics vs. Heat Game 7: How Miami Can Beat Boston and Advance to the Finals
Contrary to popular belief, the Miami Heat are going to have to do more than just show up to beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 on Saturday night.
The Celtics can be nasty to reckon with when they've been publicly embarrassed, so the Heat should be expecting a battle on Saturday night. They also shouldn't expect Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo to play as poorly as they did in Game 6, nor should they expect LeBron James to drop 45 again.
The Heat have long been heralded as the Eastern Conference's strongest team, but they didn't play like it for four out of the six games of this series. Here's how they can sustain their Game 6 momentum as this series winds down for good.
Miami's Bench Needs to Shine
This is one area in which the Heat can truly decimate the Celtics.
Put simply, the Heat have a lot of talent in their second unit, and the Celtics have very little. Therefore, there's no excuse for a Game 6 performance in which the bench contributed just 13 points, nine rebounds and four of the team's 12 turnovers.
The bench didn't need to be good on Thursday—LeBron took care of everything. But since the odds are that that absurd performance won't be replicated on Saturday night, a little more assistance is going to be required of the backups.
I'm talking to you, Chris Bosh.
Contain Kevin Garnett
What LeBron is to the Heat, KG is to the Celtics (on a bit of a lesser level). When he decides to completely take over a game, it's hard for Boston to lose, not only because of the sheer dominance he exudes on the court but also because of his attitude.
When Garnett is feeling it, he's feeling it, and good luck to the rest of the world.
Garnett was even more of a threat to the Heat before Bosh's return because he was able to very easily exploit Miami's inexperience and lack of size in the middle. Garnett is probably the Celtics' most vicious offensive weapon, so if he's contained, Boston's performance will resemble the sad one they put forth on Thursday.
If the Heat can't stop Garnett like they did in Game 6—when he was limited to just 12 points and five rebounds on 6-of-14 shooting—they're going to have a much tougher time stopping the Celtics.
Limit the Turnovers and Force More From Boston
For the Celtics to win this postseason, Rajon Rondo has needed to be excellent, and in the last two games, he hasn't been.
In fact, most of the Celtics were sloppy with the ball in Thursday's loss, when 13 turnovers resulted in 16 points for Miami.
The Heat haven't been incredibly careful with the ball, either, and assuming this Game 7 isn't going to be a LeBron-Show Blowout, the most conservative and careful team is going to win.
It's not just Rondo the Heat need to target; Pierce had a sloppy game on Thursday as well and committed three of the team's 13 turnovers. With every single one, the Celtics visibly grew more and more frustrated, so if the Heat can antagonize them defensively again—and if LeBron and Dwyane Wade can hold onto the ball—this one is swinging Miami's way.
