Miami Heat proves the value of patience, even in the face of defeat

Jimmy Butler studied a box score. Max Strus donned a sweatshirt from Lewis University, the Division II school in Romeoville, Illinois, who had offered him a scholarship when he got high majors programs. And as fireworks crackled outside, Udonis Haslem — a power forward and a staple of the Miami Heat for the past 20 seasons — reflected on the final game of his playing career.

“Proud of these guys, proud of my team,” said 43-year-old Haslem. “I told the guys I have no complaints, no regrets. They’ve given me one last season I’ll never forget, and that’s all I could wish for.”

There was sadness but also joy in the visiting Ball Arena dressing room on Monday night. There was resignation mingled with a considerable amount of pride. Most of all, in the wake of the Heat’s 94-89 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, there was a sense that Miami had lost the series to a superior opponent and a worthy national champion, and at times it was really that simple.

“We would have loved to climb the mountain top and get that overall win,” said Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra. “But I think this is a team that a lot of people can relate to, if you’ve ever felt like you’ve been fired or felt inferior. We had a lot of people in our dressing room who probably have, and there’s probably many people who have felt that at one time or another.

Some of the storylines that accompanied the Heat during their deep playoff run may be annoyingly familiar by now. How nine of the players on their roster were not drafted. How they seemed to thrive in the face of adversity. How Spoelstra may have confused more talented opponents with his zone defense. And how Butler and Bam Adebayo, the team’s top two players, filled their more unsung teammates with aplomb.

But there was also something new and funny about the way the Heat, as the No. 8 of the Eastern Conference, went about their business — dismay after dismay, surprise after surprise. They were only the second eighth seed to reach the NBA Finals.

“I’m just thankful,” Butler said of his teammates. “I learned so much. They taught me so much. I wish I could have done it for these guys because they certainly deserve it.”

Perhaps Miami’s playoff run was mostly a testament to organizational stability, a concept that sounds about as boring as boiled potatoes. But the Heat — along with the Nuggets, who have stuck with their core and coaching staff through a medley of ups and downs — have shown that being boring and practicing patience has value, that constant change is rarely the answer.

Spoelstra, who has been with the Heat since the mid-1990s, first as a video coordinator and later as an assistant, personifies that approach. He has been the team’s coach for 15 seasons, making him the second longest-serving coach behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich—no small feat when coaches in professional sports tend to be shuffled like playing cards. About one-third of NBA coaches were fired or retired in the 2022-2023 season.

And in an era where some teams are saving draft picks and strategizing on how best to bring in top-shelf prospects – this is less diplomatically known as “tanking” – the Heat have continued to prioritize the development of their young players while they strive to be competitive, even when the work is hard and often thankless.

Spoelstra recalled the training camp, which he described as hyper-competitive. At that point, the Heat were just months away from a disappointing end to their 2021-22 season: a Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. The memory of that game seemed to nourish them.

“We could barely get through those full-contact practices without everyone yelling at each other, at the coaches on duty, arguing over the scores,” Spoelstra said.

And then something strange happened: Miami struggled with mediocrity for months. The NBA is not an easy undertaking. The Heat lost seven of their first 11 games. By the end of December, they had won only half. By April, they were advancing to the play-in bracket, and with the No. 7 seed in the East on the line, they lost to the Atlanta Hawks. As Miami had to beat the Chicago Bulls to secure its final conference playoff spot, it trailed by as much as 6 points in the fourth quarter – then won by 11.

However, the whole process turned out to be important. Despite their struggles, the Heat ignored the appeal of quick fixes. They have not reversed their selection on the trade deadline. Instead, they carried on with the daily grind while trusting in the belief that they would find their rhythm, that they would do well when it mattered, that they were becoming more resilient.

“Nobody let go of the rope,” Adebayo said.

If the Heat slipped into the playoffs as an afterthought, they crashed the party as soon as they arrived. It only took them five games to knock out the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round (making the Bucks’ star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, its viral discourse on the definition of “fail”), and then defeated the fifth-seeded Knicks in six games. Miami then reached the NBA Finals by getting some measure of revenge against the Celtics, beating them in Game 7 of the conference finals – in Boston, no less.

As for facing a 3-1 deficit to the Nuggets ahead of Monday’s game, some members of the Heat expressed as much confidence as ever.

“We’ve had so much adversity this season,” said Adebayo. “Who else would be in this situation?”

Some of it could have come across as public attitude, except the Heat seemed genuinely determined to extend the series. The Nuggets went 5 of 28 from 3-point range in Game 5, an effort due in part to the Heat’s aggressive defense. Butler, meanwhile, came out of hibernation to score late in the game, and his two free throws gave Miami an 89–88 lead with 1 minute and 58 seconds remaining.

But the Heat went winless the rest of the way as the Nuggets clinched their first championship behind Nikola Jokic, their jack-of-all-trades.

“The last three or four minutes felt like a scene from a movie,” said Spoelstra. “Two teams in the center of the ring throw haymaker after haymaker, and it’s not necessarily a shot. It’s the efforts. Boys staggered around because both teams played and competed so hard.

Spoelstra added that it was probably his team’s “most active defensive game” of the season.

“And it was still disappointing,” he said.

Afterwards, Haslem said he was already thinking about next season and how the team’s returning players could build on their experience in the playoffs. He will not be among them.

Haslem, who signed with the Heat in 2003 and won three championships with the team, is retiring. And while he’s played sparingly in recent seasons, he wielded an outsized influence in the locker room. He also acted as a leitmotif for the organization, as someone who understood pressure and hard work and the way things are done in Miami from one season to the next – a phenomenon better known as Heat Culture.

Haslem promised he would still be there next season.

“Somewhere nearby,” he said. “Somewhere close, I can promise you.”