The Miami Heat are facing an uphill battle in their first-round series against the Boston Celtics after dropping Game 1 114-94. With Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier sidelined, the Heat will need to rely heavily on their defensive intensity and hope to keep pace offensively.
However, Coach Erik Spoelstra is downplaying the controversy surrounding Caleb Martin’s hard foul on Jayson Tatum in Game 1, stating that he doesn’t believe it will impact the series. Spoelstra is also urging league officials to allow for physical play, as he believes it is essential for the competitive nature of the playoffs.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Adebayo told reporters Friday. “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 is when we play that team.”
That type of play is Miami’s only chance but Coach Erik Spoelstra has a bit of a problem. In the wake of Caleb Martin’s hard foul on Jayson Tatum in the closing minute of Game 1, accusations are flying about Miami’s style of play. There is a split nationally about Martin’s play and Spoelstra did his best to downplay the episode while speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s practice.
“I don’t think it’s worth addressing,” Spoelstra said of Martin’s foul. “I get it. Everybody gets emotional. You ask fans on one side how they view the play, you ask fans on our side, you are going to get two totally different viewpoints on that. That’s the playoffs, that’s the fun part for fanbases.
“It was an irrational assessment on our view on what actually happened. The players are fine. All the outside noise or anything like that isn’t going to decide the series or the game.”
While it appears nothing is going to happen to Martin after the controversial play, there’s little doubt all eyes will be on Game 2 to see if tension boil over. That is not good for Spoelstra and the Heat since their path towards victory involves them being super physical. If the officials are calling a tight game, it will be tougher for Miami to pull that off.
That left Spoelstra trying to wave off any extra attention the play could bring to Wednesday night.
“This is good, clean, tough, physical playoff basketball and it always has been with Boston and us,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not going over the top, the league doesn’t need to look into anything more on either side to put extra eyes on it.”
The extra eyes he’s referring to here are officials paying close attention to any extracurriculars. If Miami’s isn’t allowing to be physical, that’s bad news for their chances and it led to Spoelstra essentially making a plea to league officials.
“This is tough competition basketball,” Spoelstra said. “This is what everyone wants, this is what the fans want, players want, teams want and even the league. They want this level of competition.”
Whether or not Spoelstra gets his wish remains to be seen but this will be on more subplot to monitor entering a pivotal Game 2 contest.
