This year's edition of the Eastern Conference Finals can be labeled as a back-and-forth war of attrition, as the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics have endured critical stretches without key playmakers. And the grueling nature of this bout was displayed during Game 3 on Saturday at TD Garden, as stars Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum, and Marcus Smart battled injuries that could possibly alter their production levels for the remainder of the series.
Although Miami avoided an epic meltdown in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead, Butler missed the entire second half due to knee inflammation, and he's been listed as questionable for Game 4 on Monday. As for Boston, Tatum (shoulder) and Smart (ankle) have reportedly circumvented serious injury, despite painful and brief exits in the second half. Somehow, the Celtics' star tandem returned to action only minutes after leaving the court with trainers.
"I would've bet my life that the Celtics were going to come back and win that game. Without Butler for the Heat and the emotional boost they were getting from their stars returning, at one point, they cut [their deficit] to one," Maggie Gray said during Maggie and Perloff on Monday. "That was a game the Celtics should've won. And the fact they couldn't complete the comeback, felt like it was more on the Celtics than on the Heat for staving them off."
"[Celtics] needed to spend every bullet they had to get back in that game. If the Heat had lost, that would've been the bigger choke," Andrew Perloff said. "I've never seen more lazy turnovers in a series, at any level -- they were just throwing it to the Heat... And the Heat are the most confounding team in this playoffs. Every single game, you're going to get a completely different team... When Smart got hurt, that game was over."
Maggie and Perloff's complete thoughts on the East Finals can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Maggie and Perloff Show on Twitter @MaggieandPerl and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.