2020 wasn't a fluke, but it is completely irrelevant to this discussion. Goran Dragic was the best player for the Heat in that series
The C's were starting Daniel Theis
Cody Zeller was getting rotational minutes and Tyler Herro had been out since April. Hell, Jimmys ankle had been fukked up since the Knicks series. Boston had zero reason to lose to Miami. There hasn’t been one series where this iteration of Boston was the head and shoulders better playin team. You can talk numbers but you have to look at these two teams within the 4yr span. Looking at these results you have to admit one of these 3 things:
A. Boston plays down to the level of their competitor, meaning Tatum ain’t it, since he’s their leader.
B. Jimmy owns Boston and just knows how to play against them inspite of his numbers not looking the prettiest.
C. Spo is just a better coach than Stevens, Udoka and Mozerrella.
Again, if Boston is the head and shoulders better team, than how did last year come down to the wire and how do they lose this year? The flukiness of it all would make more sense if this iteration of Boston had a history of just mollywhopping Miami in past recent series. But every series these two teams have played has either come down to the wire or had Miami advancing. You Boston fans need to do some soul searching, man. This team can’t constantly be underachieving like this. You don’t end up 2-1 against a team by accident and happenstance. Somehow Miami gets hot from deep against Boston every post season. Somehow Jimmy butler has at least one or two Wade-esque games against Boston every post season. Or if it ain’t Jimmy, we get a random Cac to torch you or we get a undrafted rotational player to look like Michael Jordan against you. At some point, this becomes a trend.