2023-06-13 07:21:00
There were no miracles for Miami. Led 3-1 against the Nuggets, the Heat ended up losing to Denver tonight, seeing their NBA title dreams come to an end. Nevertheless, it is impossible not to salute the Florida team after its formidable course in the 2023 Playoffs.
No one was expecting them there a few weeks ago. When the Heat lost their first game of the play-in tournament against Atlanta, we even wondered if Miami was going to participate in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Not only did the Heat qualify for the Playoffs, but they especially qualified for the Finals NBA, thwarting all predictions round after round.
We made history, don’t let them tell you differently. Thank you #HEATNation for always riding with us and FOR us! pic.twitter.com/13lHBcEvAW
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) June 13, 2023
If the disappointment of the defeat against Denver is obviously palpable today, it seems important to emphasize once again the magical course of the Heat in these Playoffs. Magical, and even historic knowing that Miami became the first team past the play-in to play the NBA Finals, as well as the second #8 seed to win their conference after the 1999 Knicks.
Milwaukee, New York, Boston, all these teams have suffered the law of the Miami Heat in these 2023 Playoffs. The Heat have never had the advantage of the field against these opponents. Miami has faced the two best teams (Bucks and Celtics) in the regular season on the record. Erik Spoelstra’s men had to play Game 7 of the Conference Finals away from home, under pressure to become the first team to lose a series after leading 3-0. So many challenges for the Heat, so many opportunities to surpass themselves.
Absolute respect for Miami.
For Spoelstra, for Riley, for this franchise that has never stopped fighting.
You’re 8th and you beat the East, we will remember this Heat. They gave it their all, there was nothing left in the tank.
The end of a crawling season, from start to finish ????????
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) June 13, 2023
After a complicated regular season, finished in seventh place in the East with a disappointing record of 44 wins for 38 losses, Miami has started the Playoffs mode. Jimmy Butler put on his “Playoffs Jimmy” costume, notably scoring 56 points in a legendary Game 4 in the first round against the Bucks. Erik Spoelstra has shown once again that he’s the king of adjustment (do you like zone defenses?), the whole gang of undrafted players has stepped up to tip the playoffs in favor of Miami, and the he 3-point address that fled the Heat on a regular basis came back at the best time. When you combine all of this with the usual values of Heat Culture – collective, defense, combat, discipline and self-confidence – it makes for a heroic journey.
Some will probably say that the Heat took advantage of certain game facts to get this far, including the injury of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first round of the Playoffs, and that of Jayson Tatum in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Of course it worked, but we remember that Jimmy Butler had to do with an ankle sore since Game 1 against the Knicks in semi-conf. That Tyler Herro broke his hand at the start of the Playoffs, and that Victor Oladipo was also injured afterwards.
All that to say that the Heat also had to respond to adversity. And he did, whenever a complicated situation arose. Because the Miami Heat, in the end, that’s it. A team that never gives up, that surpasses itself when others come together, and that likes more than anything to thwart the odds.
This 2023 Playoffs campaign is the best proof of this.
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