The Miami Heat had a plan all along and the plan is coming to fruition.
At 3-1 the Miami Heat are one win away from their 2nd back to back appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals since the Big 3 era, and their third appearance in the last four years. But this run without a doubt is one of their most unexpected. But I refuse to use the word improbable. When you look back you may realize we were all had by Spo and the so called #8 seed Miami HEAT. We were rope a doped. Duped. Faked out. Shaked out of our sneakers. Completely and utterly fooled by this team.
Or were we? It wasn’t like there weren’t clues. The constant close wins. The constant losses to lesser opponents. But the biggest tell was after a string a losses I recall Butler saying they were just playing with their heads down and moving on to the next. It was the same philosophy Spo had spouted previously and I’m sure I cursed him when he said they were just playing through the losses and not going to spend time looking back. I took it at first as they didn’t care and were lackluster and were were going to miss the playoffs or get blown out in the first round like many teams do who come in 2nd the previous year. The effort is so exhausting on those runs that I was expecting a let down year.
Injuries hit us I feel like it hit most teams throughout the season. Robinson had the hand surgery and Lowry came out hot as hell in the beginning of the season and carried the team early while Butler saved himself but then he was relegated to the second unit after a string of bad games, knee issues and from what I remember was load management as well as Gabe Vincent coming to prominence as the starter.
But there was something I noticed early on: This team was not going to kill itself for the number one seed. They were not going to waste any energy worrying about home court advantage. Every year that is the thing all the big teams do. You saw/see it with the Bucks, Celtics, and 76ers who in my eyes were the only teams the Heat had to worry about. Then the losses against the Cavs, Knicks and every other East team started piling up and you wondered if they would even make the playoffs. But they did. Barely. By making the play in game where they faced an Atlanta team no one in Miami feared. Until they lost. And faced a Bulls team they lost against during the regular season. They had fallen from getting into that four team battle for first to trying to claw away the 8 seed.
It wasn’t what we expected and I gotta imagine neither did the Heat but they got to the games that mattered. They got to the games where they faced the most pressure. And they responded. Responded like we have never seen, not even with Big 3.
Because you expected greatness with the Big 3. People, fans and media included did not believe in this current team and constantly cut to commercial rather than talk about them at nauseum like they do with the Lakers or the Knicks. Like people were still picking NY tonight. After seeing Jimmy average 35 during the post. Put 50+ against the best defense and MVP and #1 team in the East and I think the league (I’m not gonna check fuck it). Point is after they beat the Bucks people should’ve noticed there was something going on. But I can’t blame them. Herro was 20+ for us on a cloudy day and Oladipo a defensive key to locking down the other teams 3rd or 4th. Getting those two injured in one series would kill anyone else. But it didn’t even feel like the Heat noticed. They grabbed Herro dragged him to the side and called a medic. Now he’s resting on stretcher made of bamboo. Oladipo was evacuated by medivac and made it home safe. The platoon continued forward toward the next hill and before needing to resupply they already wiped out 75% of the other company. Sorry I’ve been playing a lot of FPS.
Butler is Kilgore. He was going to survive this war and by hell or highwater make sure his boys were going to make it home too. And they did and beat the living shit out of the Knicks. Now it was time to go upriver. Grab the last supplies and few barrels of fuel that are left and power through the NY fog. Deeper into the jungle.
Once in the playoffs the Heat felt it was all going to work itself out. And so far it has. Even if they don’t make it to the Finals it’s still a big eye opener season for the Heat. You can be happy because we won the big prize in Round 1 and have been playing with house money. As long as they keep calling us the 8th seed and not recognizing we were in the ECF last year and this team LOST ONE GUY and most of that same team was in the Bubble Finals two years before. The most advanced athletic competition since probably the Olympics.
I will briefly explain even though I’ve done it many times before.
The bubble was the best athletes locked in a box and told to do nothing but play basketball. If they lost, they were kicked out into a world where people were dying. It was not only about winning a title and entertaining a world engulfed in worry and panic and death but staying in a place of safety for them and their families when they could bring them in. At the time the safest place on Earth.
You better believe motherfuckers were playing their hardest and their most focused. That’s why you saw Lebron make it to the end and an Eric Spoelstra coached Heat team with Jimmy Butler in his first year with the Heat wanting to prove his worth and a rookie Tyler Herro. That was also the year of the infamous Bam Block which was insane.
So there, the Bubble was not a joke. Accept it. The year after was on short rest so that was the year that you should prolly all question. Distractions were back compounded with the fear of again death.
This is the Heat’s bounce back year. They had business with Milwaukee since getting swept by them. They have business with Celtics since missing the shot last ECF. That to them is all that mattered. Everyone else was fodder for the Jimmy buckets machine.
Kyle Lowry was and is the biggest surprise but also the biggest you should’ve seen it coming. He came in strong early and when he tapered off the fear was that he had reinjured the knee and would become a seat warmer the rest of the season. Instead it was the set up. Use Lowry early in the season while Butler saved himself for late. While Butler led the team at the end Lowry would take the backseat to prepare for the playoffs. It got hairy cause they cut it super close but they made it to the playoffs with a relatively healthy team.
When they started the Bucks series EVERYONE WAS 100%. It was like everyone coming out a Saiyan rejuvenation chamber. What was wild was that they had just done a win or go home game and a fight for the 7th seed a game before. They were supposed to roll into the last few games and take it easy with games against Orlando and someone else that sucked ( again I ain’t gonna check you check). They were battling for the last playoff positions all the way to end which was a product and the absolute batshit crazy scheduling of the season. It was a year of multiple stretches were we played the same team up to three times within a few days and even the entire series in a few weeks. The eastern conference seeding was pretty much set before Dec. 31.
So we didn’t have time to rest. Yet we came in healthy and ready and fresh and warmed up and loose and with nothing to lose as an 8 seed with zero chance against the 1 seed.
But people failed to focus on what makes the NBA unique. The matchups matter. There are just some teams that you don’t match up well against. It’s happens in other sports I would say baseball prolly more than football because baseball is a series sport like basketball and football is one game for it all, 17 for the season and injuries are a big deal, bigger than anywhere else.
In basketball some teams you don’t want to face. For the Bucks that was the Heat. For the Knicks it is the Heat. Two teams that at every position the Heat had/have someone to match up against and ultimately when there was blood in the water with the Giannis injury early, the Heat grabbed a hold and didn’t let go. But the Heat had Herro go down early so one would think that would negate that. Herro’s 20+ and desire to perform big in the playoffs finally (Herro hasn’t had a big playoffs since the Bubble) was just as important as Giannis, MVP or not.
But the X-factor was Butler. We all had believed in Playoff Jimmy like if he was NBA Santi Clau ( that’s the correct spelling, move to Miami), and same way we would react seeing the fat man lay presents on the ground and a smoocher on mommy, we have been amazed at seeing Butler rise to the occasion once again. I really don’t think we should be surprised by this because Butler is a top 5 player dare I say Top 3. But what I think amazed us was that we saw someone flip the switch. We’ve seen it before I’m sure but it must be we haven’t seen it in a long time. But this was a clear view of the switch being turned on. It was proof of the aliens. It was seeing the Kaioken. The red fire not like on Namek when Tien says Goku hasn’t used it but the you come to find out he has been using it the whole time you just couldn’t see it. Yes that was a really bad comparison but you get the point.
You saw bigfoot baby, and he was chilling with your homegirl draining threes and kissing babies. Running for elections, taking over. The fourth quarter. Putting teams away. Putting the team on his back. You know right fucking now, who is the leader. Without a doubt. And last time it was like that was Wade 2006. This team and that are similar but Wade was still young and Shaq didn’t really step aside until playoffs. This is a team where there is a captain, there are generals, and enough foot soldiers to take over any area on the map (again I’m sorry I’ve been playing non stop. Check out Planetside 2. It’s free! Unpaid ad!).
10 straight playoff games with 25+. Butler joined an elite group in NBA history becoming the sixth player to score 25 or more points in 10 consecutive playoff games since 1995. That is Jimmy. That is him. For he is the way.
Recent Comments