Miami Heat enters NBA Finals 2023: A Journey Against History and Stats

Take a look at this photo, the moment when the Miami Heat seemed to have been eliminated before even making it to the NBA Playoffs:

Within these 3 minutes and 45 seconds, the Miami Heat's season was on the verge of collapse. Being led despite being played at home, Jimmy Butler and his teammates had many difficulties in scoring, never having a ball into the basket.

Fast forward about 6 weeks, the same Miami Heat team but now preparing to play the first NBA Finals game. They overcame the Boston Celtics after 7 games in the Eastern Finals, entering the second NBA Finals series in four years, from the time they brought Jimmy Butler to Florida.

Particularly, Game 7 brings special emotions, a victory like releasing anger and regret that has been pent-up for exactly 365 days.

A year ago also at Game 7 of the Eastern Finals in 2022, the Boston Celtics won right on Miami's field to enter the NBA Finals with a score of 4-3.

Returning to the present, Heat has successfully avenged according to that scenario. They beat the Celtics right in Boston, taking another step on their journey against all stats and judgments throughout the season.

Called that because no one thought that Heat could get this far. During the expert opinion polls of many reputable sites such as ESPN, The Athletic... there was not a single vote for the Miami Heat.

Even the supercomputer system specializing in data analysis only gave the Miami Heat exactly 3% to beat the Boston Celtics in the Eastern finals.

Now no one questions the above comments. Instead, they asked each other how the Miami Heat could do it. Why was the team that seemed weaker than the previous year able to touch the Eastern championship, thereby owning the opportunity to compete for the noble Larry O'Brien gold trophy?

In the same way that the Heat dismisses all judgments, analyzes or statistics, they surprised everyone with the unbelievable explosion at the Playoffs.

In attack, the Miami Heat collective in the Regular Season was like a mess. They ranked last out of the 30 teams in the NBA in terms of average points scored per game.

One of the main reasons for this statistic is the drastic drop in the 3-point throw rate. Heat players have thrown in more than 38% of their 3-pointers in the 2021-22 season. But by this year, Miami's long throw rate fell to 34.4% 3PT.

Miami Heat's defense still plays well and is stubborn, one of the things that make the team's brand. They ranked second in the NBA in terms of the number of points the opponent scored per game, creating a lifeline for the whole team while the offensive line struggled.

But in the postseason, Heat's attack suddenly revived thanks to a combination of many factors appearing at the same time. The first is that the Miami pitchers get back into shape at the right time.

Despite not having top pitcher Tyler Herro (fractured hand, retired from the Playoffs), the Heat team improved their long throw success rate to 39% 3PT with an average of 33 throws per game.

When the defense was still effective, the attack was hot again, turning the Miami Heat into a very difficult team to stop. They were tenacious and defended extremely wisely, then threw well with the leadership and coordination of leader Jimmy Butler.

As a result, the Miami Heat owns a Net Rating that is almost the best of the 16 teams in the Playoffs, helping this team eliminate the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics in the East, respectively.

The second thing that led to Miami's success was a concept called "Heat Culture", which roughly translates to "Miami Heat culture".

Believing in an abstract concept in the NBA Playoffs may sound very wrong, but “Heat Culture” is something that has been proven over the years and generations of players.

It doesn't just stop at requiring players to keep their weight off during the offseason or train for hours a day. It is also the spread of confidence, determination not to give up, faith in teammates and passion to win with the starting point of "leader wolf" Jimmy Butler.

From an extremely standard role model, Butler turned the entire Miami Heat team into other versions of himself. Not talking about the gameplay or the way of thinking and approaching the game but the mentality, the will to fight and the determination to win.

Heat do not have players that are too excellent and talented, but they do have names that are willing to work hard, accept the process of training many challenges to be successful.

The most obvious example is Caleb Martin, who narrowly lost to Jimmy Butler in the race for the MVP title of the Eastern series finale.

Caleb was once terminated from his contract because he could not perform much in the Charlotte Hornets shirt. He had to rely on the relationship of rapper J.Cole to apply for a trial spot at the Miami Heat.

He now averages nearly 20 points per game in some of the most intense games in the NBA Playoffs, sometimes playing the Miami Heat's No. 1 star on the field. Compared to the Regular Season (scoring 9.6 points/match), Martin has completely transformed when he is put in a position to shine.

Even Duncan Robinson, he's a down-and-out pitcher in the postseason. But when he was trusted and put on the field, he still spoke up at the right time by scoring or fulfilling the task of stretching the opposing team, creating opportunities for teammates to shine.

“Miami Heat culture” is not just an abstract concept but it is very real, although many people cannot describe it in words or words.It has helped Miami make the impossible possible, go down in history. as the second team to reach the NBA Finals from seed 8.

But the Miami Heat didn't come here just to celebrate and enjoy the thrill of conquering the East, they set their sights on beating the Denver Nuggets to become NBA champions.

They will once again be in the "bottom door", will not be appreciated for the ability to win, but this is not strange for Jimmy Butler and his teammates anymore.

The NBA Finals 2023 series between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat promises to be extremely enjoyable to watch, where the two teams will face off in terms of tactics, people and mentality.

The series will begin with Game 1 taking place on Denver's turf at 7:30 a.m. Friday, June 2.