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Dwyane Wade sees Pat Riley sticking around with Miami Heat

Pat Riley has a long, storied history in basketball. He’s a legend in many respects, including via his current status with the Heat. Here’s retired star Dwyane Wade talking about Riley, as per the Sun Sentinel:

Dwyane Wade said Wednesday that he envisions Pat Riley continuing on with the work he has done as Miami Heat president no matter the result of these NBA playoffs, and that even if the job became vacant, it is not one he would pursue.

Asked if championship success could bring the Riley era to a close after a quarter century of stewardship of the Heat, Wade said on 790-The Ticket that he sees the 75-old-icon as game for more.

“I don’t think so,” Wade said of Riley moving on after a potential fourth championship under his Heat watch this postseason. “I think we’re going to have to roll him out.

“Look, I’ve heard him say a lot of things over my time. He said he wanted to build a team to get back to the championship. I see Riley just being there. That doesn’t mean someone else won’t eventually come in.”

It’s clear that Riley has a good thing going with this current Heat squad, who are currently up 2-1 on the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. They’re clearly a championship contender right now, and no matter what happens in the remainder of these playoffs there is no reason for Riley or anyone up top in the organization to think about going anywhere.

Marcus Smart discusses Celtics locker room yelling, and Game 3 win vs. Heat

After their recent Game 2 Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Heat, loud yelling was heard by reporters stationed outside the Celtics locker room. That’s a perfectly normal thing to happen in sports. The Celtics, who then got Gordon Hayward back in action for Game 3, grabbed a victory. Here’s Boston.com with more on what went down:

Following the Celtics’ loss to the Heat in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, arguing was heard coming from Boston’s locker room. After two difficult losses in a row to Miami, the fighting amongst teammates seemed like an inevitable outcome of a team in disarray.

Yet the Celtics flipped the narrative in Game 3, responding with a dominant 117-106 win to cut the Heat’s series lead to 2-1.

Marcus Smart was one of those involved in the locker room argument, but explained on Monday why the team was able to come back stronger afterward.

“Electrifying, what happened in the locker room,” Smart told reporters. “We’re a family, a family fights all the time. I fight with my brothers all the time. But at the end of the day, we can fight with each other and nobody else can. It happens between families, especially a family like ours who has been together so long. It’s going to happen.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who play with their feelings on their sleeves,” Smart continued, “who play with their heart on their sleeves, play with their heart night in and night out, and we weren’t supposed to be happy down 2-0, especially with those two games that we gave us. We’re playing against a great Miami team and we can’t have those lapses like that. Of course emotions are going to fly, but we’re a family and it happens.”

Heat have some adjustments to make for Game 4 vs Celtics

The Heat know what they need to focus on heading into Wednesday’s Game 4 against the Celtics. Here’s the Miami Herald with a look at some issues:

The Celtics made adjustments after dropping the first two games of the East finals, and now it’s the Heat’s turn to adjust to those Boston adjustments that worked Saturday. Miami held a team film session Monday morning, and Crowder said there was more film study on the schedule for Monday night.

One of the big adjustments will simply be to play better defense.

The Heat has allowed 113.3 points per 100 possessions in the East finals. For context, only four NBA teams finished the regular season with a worse defensive rating.

Boston is shooting an efficient 47.3 percent from the field in the East finals, a team shooting percentage that would have ranked fourth best in the regular season…

The Celtics outscored the Heat 60-36 in the paint in Game 3. It’s the most paint points Miami has allowed this postseason and just the fourth time it has allowed 60 or more paint points this entire season.

Getting Gordon Hayward back big for Celtics in playoffs

Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting on the Celtics, who got Gordon Hayward back in action Saturday in winning Game 3. The Heat still lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 to be played on Wednesday:

With Gordon Hayward back in the mix, the Celtics are making no pretense about anything other than getting their top five players on the court as much as possible the balance of these Eastern Conference finals as often as feasible.

“Well, the hard part about that is we never had all five or very rarely had all five available during the regular season before the hiatus,” Stevens said of the quintet of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart and Hayward. “It was only like 12 or 13 games. And then when we got here, Kemba wasn’t practicing for the first few weeks, so we never really got into that stuff much.”

Then came Hayward’s return in Saturday’s Game 3 from a month off due to a severely sprained ankle, with the goal now to tie the series in Wednesday’s 8:30 p.m. Game 5 in the best-of-seven series at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.

“The idea was that we have to get those guys on the court as much as possible,” Stevens said of Game 3.

Gordon Hayward upgraded to Questionable for Celtics vs Heat Game 3

Playing in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, the Celtics lost Game 1 in overtime, then were outscored 37-17 in the third quarter of a five-point Game 2 loss.

Boston needs a boost. And according to the league injury report as of Friday afternoon, they may soon have one in the form of Gordon Hayward. The forward, who has been out with a right ankle sprain, has been upgraded to Questionable for Game 3.

Players coming off of injury often play limited minutes, so if Gordon does step onto the court it doesn’t guarantee he’ll be out there for long, nor that he’ll be at his best. But it would certainly be a positive development.

Game 3 is Saturday night. And then the squads have a few days off, with Game 4 not until Wednesday.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra speaks on matchup with Celtics

The Eastern Conference Finals series between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics starts tomorrow. The Miami Herald:

“You’re not expecting it to be easy,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Monday’s practice of this year’s series against the Celtics. “When you get to the conference finals, there are four teams left and it’s not like the NCAA Tournament, where you can just get hot for three weeks. You have to be a good team that has proved it for months, that you’ve earned that right. So the last four teams should be the teams that have the most complexity and we feel that way. Boston is a really good team. They’re talented. They play the right way. They defend. Really well coached. You can’t expect there to be pushovers when you get to this point.”

The Celtics took out the defending-champion Raptors — sure, Toronto is without Kawhi Leonard these days, but a series win is a series win. And the Heat took out the best-record-in-league Bucks. We should be in for a great series.

Dwyane Wade keeping a close eye on Miami Heat playoff run

Former Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is an observer now spoke with the Miami Herald on the team, who stepped up and convincingly eliminated the Bucks to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.

Future Hall of Fame guard Dwyane Wade, who retired at the end of last season and already had his No. 3 Heat jersey retired by the organization, is watching Miami’s playoff run closely but from afar in his home in the Los Angeles area.

“Even though I played for this organization and we’ve done some incredible things and I know these guys, I’m just a fan,” Wade said during an interview with the Miami Herald. “I watch from afar and I’m coaching like they can hear me. I’m screaming at them like they can hear me and I’m texting them after the game the same way. Hopefully they can hear me. I’m just a fan that knows the game very well and knows the organization and the team very well who has access to the players. It’s like the ultimate fan.” …

“You still have your connection to the team. It’s still there because it’s immediate,” Wade said. “Being able to be connected with the players and still have that conversation and back-and-forth banter, and giving encouragement or watching the game and giving my inside on what I see. It has been great. As I’ve been told for many years, you enjoy the success of others. I’ve been able to sit back from afar and enjoy the success of the individuals who I know that play for the team now.”

Game 1 of the Heat vs. Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals playoff series is tomorrow night.

Now on Celtics, Kemba Walker ready for renewed shot at Heat

Game 1 of the Celtics vs Heat Eastern Conference Finals series is Tuesday. Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel setting the scene on where Kemba Walker is coming from in approaching the series:

The Boston Celtics spent most of the past two weeks preoccupied with escaping the conference semifinals against the Toronto Raptors. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t taking note of what the Heat were accomplishing on the other side of the East bracket.

“Those guys, they balled last series, man,” Celtics guard Kemba Walker said of the Heat after Boston closed out Toronto in Friday’s Game 7 at Disney World. “Those guys are nothing but players.”

The Celtics took Saturday off to recover from going blow for blow with the Raptors. The Heat, by contrast, have been idle since closing out the Milwaukee Bucks in Tuesday’s Game 5 of that best-of-seven series, after sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the first round.

Walker’s only previous playoff experience prior to this season came against the Heat while with Charlotte, where he spent his first eight seasons. He was swept by the Heat 4-0 in the 2014 first round, then lost to the Heat in seven games in the 2016 first round.

Now in his first season with the Celtics, Walker, 30, is relishing the opportunity for payback.

A possible X-factor in the series could be Celtics forward Gordon Hayward, who is still healing from an ankle sprain but appears to be progressing. There’s no evidence suggesting he might be ready by Game 1, or Game 2, but it now seems possible that he could return sometime during the series. That’s not a prediction. Just a possibility.

James Johnson praises former teammate Jimmy Butler

It’s always fun seeing how NBA players discuss their former teammates. Usually, positive words are said. But even so, it’s always interesting to see the exact adjectives that get used. Here’s the Minneapolis Star Tribune reporting:

Timberwolves forward James Johnson only got to play with Jimmy Butler for a little more than half a season.

But when the Wolves visited Miami on Feb. 26 after Johnson came to Minnesota via trade from the Heat, the 11-year veteran had effusive praise for Butler.

“I loved him,” Johnson said. “I love his work ethic. I love what he stands for. It sometimes can be misconstrued. Me, personally, one of the best teammates I’ve ever had.”

It speaks to how well things were going for the Heat in Butler’s first year with the team. There were no leaks to the media about practice tirades or chewing out coaches in film sessions as there were in Butler’s previous stops with Minnesota and Philadelphia.

Butler and the Heat recently finished off the No. 1 seed Bucks in the second round of the playoffs, and are waiting the winner of tonight’s Game 7 between the Celtics and defending-champion Raptors.