Five months ago, the Boston Celtics eliminated the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA playoffs, trotting onto the next phase of their championship run by making easy work of the Eastern Conference competition. But swallowing the tough pill of being sent to offseason mode left a sour taste in the mouth of the South Beach rival.
Miami had high hopes despite playing without its franchise star Jimmy Butler, who suffered a sprained MCL before the series with Boston. The Heat fought and clawed their way to a 1-1 series tie by taking Game 2 in Boston, slowly cornering the Celtics -- a vastly more talented roster with plenty of playoff experience. Nevertheless, getting bounced in five games triggered a feeling that stuck with Miami's entire locker room throughout the offseason and heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
"We've been off since early May and losing to Boston and seeing them win, that offers a little bit of different motivation in the offseason," Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said on the "Tobin and Leroy" podcast. "I think we were all able to get time away, understand that we're going to have to come together and get to a higher level. That's what happens when a team wins a championship. They force you to raise your level and that's what we're looking forward to out of our group."
In recent years, Spoelstra's trademark has become turning an underdog Heat franchise with an aging star (Butler) and a fringe-reliable cast of Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and little-known role pieces. Two seasons ago, Spoelstra's No. 8 seeded crew stunned the Celtics by sending them packing in the conference finals and preventing Boston from its second straight trip to the NBA Finals. Now, as the Celtics return having crossed the finish line, the Heat isn't content with watching Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown lead the way for a long-awaited Banner 18 run in Boston. In fact, Spoelstra revealed he didn't watch the playoffs once Miami was eliminated in real-time and waited until training camp approached to break down film for the locker room.
"It was raw how we were ousted by Boston," Spoelstra said at media day, per team-provided video. "It left a feeling in every single one of us in the locker room. Anybody that's new, which we're excited about the new players and talent, particularly the young talent that we've added to the locker room, you've inherited all of those feelings. So we had very specific intentions about what our offseason would look like. And then ultimately, you have to be about that competition. Everything can look however you want it to look on paper. Boston can say whatever they want to say. They've earned it. They beat all of us and they were crowned so they can feel however they want to feel going into this season."
Miami will return to TD Garden to face Boston for the first of four matchups scheduled in the regular season on Dec. 2.
