Bam Adebayo had quite the take on why the Miami Heat’s 20-point Game 1 loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals wasn’t closer: the Cs had that one measly 14-point run at the start of the game, otherwise, it would’ve been a 50-50 game.

“I feel like it’s a different ball game if they don’t get off to a hot start at the beginning. You know, like you said, we went on a run in the fourth,” Adebayo told reporters (h/t Inside The Celtics). “But, if that start doesn’t happen, if there’s a ball in the air or a ball on the floor and we get those 50-50 balls, it’s a different ballgame.”

It’s understandable to call out your own team for slipping up at various points in the game, but believing that the game would’ve played out the same way — with a fourth-quarter Heat run that certainly looked like the result of complacency following a 30-point Cs lead built up in the second half — is a pretty blatant cope.

Boston Celtics must come out with something to prove in Game 2

Miami’s fourth quarter run should bother Boston, but Caleb Martin’s hard foul on Jayson Tatum, one possibly inadvertently caused by Jrue Holiday, in the final minute of Game 1 should motivate the Celtics to come out like a house of fire in Game 2; leaving no doubt that this series is one the Cs know they can’t lose.

Coming in as 15+-point favorites, Boston is fully expected to win. And win big. But they play the games for a reason, as the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals between these two teams showed firsthand less than a year ago.

Hopefully the copium is even stronger from Miami’s players after a similar performance from the Celtics in Game 2.

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