Last Night In The NBA: The Miami Heat Stuffed The Celtics In A Locker And Are Heading Back To The NBA Finals

Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.

Good morning everybody happy Monday and welcome back to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you up to speed on everything that went down from then night before in then Association. Our NBA Finals is now set with the Lakers and Heat remaining as the final two teams left in the bubble. To get there we needed to witness another high drama Game 6 and I get that there was also Sunday Night Football on so if you missed any of the action that's OK, just keep reading. Here's what happened.

Miami Heat (4-2) 125 vs Boston Celtics (1-4) 113

You know, people DM me from time to time telling me how it's their dream to work at Barstool and all that. I can relate, I was that same person who randomly sent Dave a link on Twitter to something I wrote after a random Isaiah Thomas play he tweeted about more than 5 years ago. But part of the gig is a blog like this. You think I want to write this right now? The wounds of the Celtics choking their season away are beyond fresh. But there are no days off. There are Miami Heat stoolies out there that are over the moon right now and they deserve their moment in the sun. That means I have to suck it up and type these words, none of which I actually have any idea what they say. I'm blogging on an autopilot of pain right now. And don't worry, we'll do this all over again in the Celts blog that comes later because that is all part of the gig. 

Sow how did the Miami Heat pull off the upset in this series and make the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014? Pretty simple in my eyes. They out executed the Celtics when it mattered most, they were balanced, and their starts showed up in the biggest moments. Take Game 6 for example. Bam Adebayo said after Game 5 that the loss was on him and he played like shit. Well what did he do to respond in Game 6? How about 32/14/5 on 11-15 shooting

To call this a monster performance feels a little cliche, but that's exactly what it was. It's not like Bam did nothing but just catch lobs either, time and time again he was money from the midrange, and then when it was time to take over and change the momentum in the fourth quarter, that's exactly what Bam did. He had his way with any Celtics defender, made some incredible timely passes for huge buckets late, just everything you want from your franchise center. It feels wrong to even call him a center because of everything he does, he's more a point center, but sometimes you have to tip your cap to a guy that was on another level like Bam was from the opening tip in this game.

Then there was Jimmy Butler. The biggest difference to me in this game for Butler was the fact that he was looking to score early. Guy was super aggressive at attacking mismatches and getting to his comfort spots. 

Not only that, but he also finished with 8 assists and 1 TO. I don't think it's crazy to call this his best game of the series and what a time to have it. It does feel better that now I can root for Jimmy Butler in the next series, but man did he kill the Celts in this one.

Then there was the outside shooting. The Heat finished with 56/48% splits for the game, but it was the unreal 5-5 (4-4) performance from Andre Iguodala that really hurts

that was 2012 Game 7 Shane Battier all over again. Remember his 4 3PM? Such bullshit. Well you take that and then you add to it the clutch shooting of both Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro and finally the Heat had a game when all their shooters came through

The game obviously changed with about 9 minutes left in the fourth. The Celts had just built a 6 point lead, things looked like they were going to go their way, and then BOOM. The next thing you knew MIA rolled off a 28-8 run to put this thing away. They scored 37 points and shot 66/100% in the fourth quarter. 

Tyler Herro had 11 on 4-5 shooting off the bench. Bam was 4-6 for 10 points. Duncan Robinson hit two huge threes. The broke the Celts spirit in the exact way every Celtics fan was hoping that team would do to MIA. They took their punch in the mouth in the first three minutes of the fourth and responded with a knockout blow. You have to respect that. Instead of settling for home run threes they were aggressive and attacked the basket. They buckled down defensively. In other words, they saw their opportunity to make the NBA Finals and they took it. They earned that win. 

Headin into the Finals, the Miami Heat are 12-3 in the bubble. There is no denying they've been the best team in the East since the playoffs began. It's been an incredible run and anyone who suggests otherwise is just being a salty hater. Even I can admit that. They were well coached, resilient, and showed up in high pressure situations. They deserve to be where they are. Now let's just see them do it 4 more times please. If this team turns into a pumpkin in the Finals, boy will that be annoying. 

Jimmy Buter vs LeBron. Here we go.