Celtics Discuss Added Significance of Eliminating Heat: 'Wanted to Play Miami'

Since 2010, the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat have squared off in the playoffs seven times. It's the NBA's most common postseason matchup in that span.

They've now faced each other four times in the last five years, including in three of the past four Eastern Conference Finals.

Between the Heat ending the Celtics' season on their home floor last year and the challenges Erik Spoelstra's squad presents, no matter who's on the roster, made this a rivalry clash Boston was eager to continue this playoff.

After registering 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in the hosts' 118-84 win at TD Garden to complete a 4-1 series victory, Jayson Tatum candidly fielded a question about whether it meant more to go through Miami to get to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the seventh time in the last eight years.

"I mean, yes," acknowledged the five-time All-Star. "I think it's like my fourth time in five years playing them in the playoffs. So, I was thinking when the Play-In game was on and you're trying to figure out the standings, I just had my mind made up completely that we were gonna play Miami. 

"And ​​I wanted to play Miami in a sense that, last year playing against Atlanta, we might've relaxed a little bit. But knowing the history with Miami, and how hard they play and how well-coached they are, that, for a first-round matchup, regardless of the seed, that we were gonna have to be ready to play and be ready to fight."

Looking at it from a different vantage point, Tatum's head coach expressed of what it means to beat the Heat: "If you're spending time doing that every single year -- I don't really worry about what happened last year," said Joe Mazzulla. 

"At the end of the day, I like how we approached the series for, regardless of who we were playing. It had an intentionality to it, it had attention to detail, and a consistent physicality, and that's the most important thing, is having it regardless of who you're playing against. Wake up tomorrow, you got to do it all over again versus another team. So, it doesn't really matter what happened then."

Derrick White, who followed up his career-high 38-point performance in the Celtics' 102-88 Game 4 win by matching Jaylen Brown's 25 points, leading all scorers in Wednesday's series-clinching victory, shared a similar outlook as Tatum, noting the significance of finishing off the Heat at home, a challenge that's often gotten the best of them in recent years.

"We just had such great battles against them. In the past, we've had opportunities to close them out, especially on our home court, and have failed. Being able to close them out here tonight, and do it the way we did, is definitely big."