Stakes even higher in Heat-Celtics Part II: ‘Everybody understands the context’

Considering it is where they call home, a weeklong all-expenses paid vacation in South Florida might not sound like the ultimate perk for the Miami Heat.

But it beats the alternative of desperation, apprehension and potential elimination.

“Everybody understands the context,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Tuesday night’s rematch against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

The context is this: If the Heat back up Sunday’s victory over the Celtics with another, it will remove them from the possibility of the NBA play-in tournament, assure a top-6 Eastern Conference playoff seed, and mean, at minimum, at least five days off after Sunday’s regular-season finale.

“The one Tuesday is equally important, probably even bigger,” guard Duncan Robinson said in the wake of Sunday’s 130-124 victory at TD Garden, “especially now that we’ve gotten an opportunity to really solidify ourselves and continue to work our way up the standings.

“It’s what you play for this time of year, these highly competitive games, these high-stakes games. So we’re excited for it.”

A victory Tuesday not only would move the Heat three games ahead of the Celtics with three games to play, it also would give them the 2-1 head-to-head season tiebreaker.

However, with a loss, Boston would move within one game, and claim the tiebreaker for themselves.

The distinction is significant, considering the Heat close out their regular season against the Philadelphia 76ers (Thursday at AmericanAirlines Arena), the Milwaukee Bucks (on Saturday on the road), and then the Detroit Pistons (on Sunday on the road).

By contrast, after hosting the Heat, the Celtics close out with road games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks.

So if the Celtics were to win their final three, the Heat, with a loss Tuesday, would need to win their daunting final three to stay ahead of the Celtics.

Spoelstra, of course, is looking only as far as Tuesday.

“You can’t obsess about the context of it,” he said. “It’s about bringing your best competitive game, and how do you do that. That’s what we’ll be focused on.

“The meaning and the significance, and the pressure and context, if you’re a competitor which our guys are in that locker room, what you really want is all of those things to bring out the best in your game.”

Had Sunday’s game finished like it started, there might be concern about complacency. Instead, the Celtics outscored the Heat 40-25 in that fourth-quarter to reduce what was a 26-point deficit to the final margin.

That, alone, should fully have Heat focus where needed.

“Games this time of year,” Robinson said, “no matter what, are going to be high stakes, high level, highly competitive. Especially coming off this game, the familiarity will be high, as well. It’s certainly going to be a battle.

“So we’ve just got to rest up, go over the film, learn from it, grow, and try to apply it Tuesday.”

Because the Heat know the Celtics will arrive with considerable desperation.

“When we’re not completely engaged, for whatever reason, we’re just not good,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “When we’re completely engaged, we’re a good basketball team. When we’re not, we’re not even close to being able to compete with anybody, let alone a team like Miami.”

Heat forward Jimmy Butler expects altered terms of engagement Tuesday.

“It’s going to be a completely different game,” he said, “I’ll tell you that.”

During his televised interview after Sunday’s first quarter, Spoelstra graciously said he solely was living in the moment.

Tuesday, there will be no reason for anything else.

“Great opportunity on Tuesday to further solidify ourselves,” Robinson said.

Win that one, and the long view again can enter the equation, as well as a guarantee of considerable time off a week from now, while others are dealing with the potential instant-end scenarios of the play-in round, with the playoffs opening the weekend of May 22-23.

“A game at a time, a game at a time,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “That’s how we got to go focus on this. We can’t get too far ahead of us.”