After the Boston Celtics’ Game 5 victory over the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena Tuesday Night, it became clear that 36 is the new 20.
Kevin Garnett exploded for 26 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Celtics to a 94-90 victory on the road and thus securing 3-2 series lead over the Heat.
Ask anyone prior to this series—including yours truly—and they’ll tell you this was not a crossroad Miami envisioned approaching. No way could a battered, aging roster overcome a team that boasted two of the most athletic and prolific fixtures to ever play game.
And yet, here we are.
The Heat find themselves a mere one loss away from elimination, while the Celtics find themselves just one victory from securing a third NBA finals appearance with the likes of their Core Four. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Actually, it’s not all that hard to wrap your head around. Miami looks better on paper because of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and perhaps also, because of Chris Bosh. But the Heat are not a better team, not in the most important sense of the word.
Miami has come this far on the backs of James and Wade, but it cannot always be like that. They cannot always combine for 80 points and the Heat cannot always expect win when they’re the only two scoring in double-figures.
Boston had five players score in double-figures. Five. That’s a reality Miami can only dream about, even with a healthy Bosh. And that’s ultimately the difference.
The Heat are not a true team. They have the necessary role players to compliment their superstars, but they lack the cohesion that the Celtics do, and that every legitimate championship-bound team must have.
And that’s why it’s more than acceptable to expect Boston to prevail at this point. Not because teams that win Game 5 when the series is tied 2-2 go on to win Game 6 85 percent of the time, but because the Celtics are a team. They win and lose together, they succeed and fail together, and most importantly, they play together.
Teamwork is an understated dynamic with regards to an NBA championship. Plenty of teams opt to chase bigger, younger names in search of a title, but at the end of the day, it’s the team that trusts one another to execute when it matters most that will come out on top.
We saw teamwork doom the Heat in the form of the Dallas Mavericks only last June, and it’s about to happen again with the Celtics.
Different team, different stage, different stakes, but same result.
As the Heat are about to find out, a collection of superstars without acceptable fluidity can only get you so far. Sheer star-power is not enough to overcome any obstacle that stands between a franchise and a championship, or even a finals berth.
As the Celtics are currently proving, though, teamwork is.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
