Erik Spoelstra takes high road in first comments following Heat's series loss to Boston Celtics

Good on Erik Spoelstra for taking the high road following a gentlemen's sweep of his Miami Heat at the hands of the Boston Celtics during the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals' No. 1- No. 8 matchup.

Instead of blaming his team's shortcomings on Jimmy Butler's injury, not to mention Terry Rozier's, Spoelstra gave the proverbial tip of the cap to Joe Mazzulla's squad for simply being the better team four times out of five.

"We're not going to put this on the fact that we've had some injuries," the Heat head coach told reporters after a May 1 118-84 loss to the Celtics (h/t Bleacher Report). "Let's not take anything away from Boston. They've been the best team in basketball all season long and in this series in four of the games."

Heat would've had same struggles containing Boston Celtics even with Jimmy Butler

Pretending a 34-year-old Butler would've been able to slow down Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, while also keeping Kristaps Porzingis off the perimeter -- all the while stopping Derrick White from having the best series of his career -- is a fool's errand.

Sure, Miami could've used the offensive boost Jimmy Buckets provides, but that wouldn't have singlehandedly erase the +78 point differential over the series. And certainly having Rozier too wouldn't have moved the needle much in the right direction for the Heat.

Spoelstra saved himself plenty of criticism by acknowledging the reality that Boston is simply miles better than Miami, and potentially, the rest of the Eastern Conference too if the playoffs play out like oddsmakers expect them to.

"Heat Culture" will one day rise to the top again, since Pat Riley has proven to be one of the most savvy executives across the Association and has survived LeBron James' departure far better than both iterations of the Cleveland Cavaliers that had to deal with it too; and likely exponentially better than what the Los Angeles Lakers will soon have to do.

But this round was always going to go to the Celtics.