Miami Heat shouldn’t be here by logic, in these 2023 NBA Finals. Just in seventh position in the East (44-38) and entered the playoffs one place behind, from eighth because he lost calamitously in his first game of play in, against the very underpowered Hawks. In fact, that ticket for the playoffs came with a lot of suffering, in the second and final duel of play in and against some Bulls who were ahead with only three minutes to go. The worst team in the regular season in scoring and with a negative balance between points scored and conceded (-0.3 per night), the Heat forgot everything and have overcome three playoffs without home court and playing, in two of them, against the best teams of the season and the two great favorites for the title, Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics. His other victim was, in the conference semifinals, New York Knicks.
It has been the umpteenth demonstration of what in the NBA is called heat culture, Miami Heat culture. The demand and competitiveness of a franchise that played in the Finals for the first time in 2006 and now, in 2023, will play the seventh in its history. In that section, no one has been in so many. There is no greater demonstration of good practice in the offices… and on the track. Of those seven Finals, the Heat have won three: 2006, 2012 and 2013. Now, against the Denver Nuggets in an unprecedented series, They will look for the fourth ring in their history. I would give him sixth place in the history alone, ahead of the others that have three, Sixers and Pistons.
The Heat came to the NBA in the 1988 expansion along with the Magic, Hornets and Timberwolves. After a few hesitant years, like almost any project in its beginnings, the pivotal moment was the signing in 1995 of Pat Riley, then as a coach and executive. Riley is still at the foot of the canyon and this will be his 19th final between his stages as a player, coach and executive. Riley created the first great version of the Heat with Tim Hardaway and Alonzo Mourning. And when they were gone, he drafted Dwyane Wade in 2003. He then paired Shaquille O’Neal with the shooting guard and lhe bequeathed his first title, in 2006, after a historic comeback against Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavericks and with a prodigious performance from Wade. In 2010, the Heat formed the mother of all super teams when they teamed up Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Already with Erik Spoelstra on the bench (since 2008) they reached four Finals in a row (2010-14) and two titles, in 2012 and 2013.
After LeBron’s departure, Riley didn’t let the team slide into irrelevance. ANDhe next big move was the arrival of Jimmy Butler, in 2019. With the forward as a new franchise player, the Heat have continued to be ultra competitive: finalists in 2020, in the Florida bubble (they lost in the Final against the Lakers), and again in the fight for the title, in 2023 and against all odds. That is the heat culture, the certainty that they will always compete. Now they are looking for their fourth title in their seventh Final.