#10 - 2011 Conference Semi Finals - Game 5 - Boston Celtics (H)

10. 2011 Conference Semi Finals - Game 5: Boston Celtics (H)

Boston Celtics 87, Miami Heat 97

Scenes from a finals victory, surely? No, that’s how big every series win felt for the Heat in 2011, and how much it meant to overcome the Celtics.

It’s hard to fully appreciate now, but this win meant EVERYTHING at the time to Miami. They had been unable to beat the Celtics in the regular season, and came into this series with a lot of doubts. A 2^nd round exit for the Heat seems unfathomable now, but it was absolutely on the cards at the time. To remind yourself of how much it meant, you only need to look at the celebrations after the heat emerged victorious. They’re not the celebrations of a team that has just made it to the Easter Conference finals. They’re the celebrations of a team that had played a season in a swirl of doubt, criticism and hated. LeBron’s final 10 points were MAMMOTH. The heat had to come back to win this one, and what a comeback it was. This series was hard fought, and it was fun. Even though the heat had a 3-1 lead at home going into this one (and it took an OT victory on the road in game 4 to get it), the doubt was still paramount. It took the heat actually winning for the fans to finally accept this team could conquer those Celtics. This was the first time LeBron had gotten past the Celtics, and didn’t he know it.

Remember those days of being terrified of Ray Allen jumpers?

The reasons:

• Those two LeBron 3’s to kill off the celtics were probably his biggest plays of his career at the time.
• The celebrations. 

That 2011 season was ultimately crushing for Miami fans. But if they had gone on to win, it would easily have been the most fun season of all 4.