Season Of Adversity Helped Shape The Miami Heat

After a year of ups and downs, the Miami Heat are three wins from the NBA Finals

A few months ago, the Miami Heat were in complete disarray. 

They were near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. They were full of injuries. And they were in danger of missing the postseason. 

Then the playoffs began. 

The pretenders suddenly became contenders, and now they are three wins from making the NBA Finals. They can move step closer with a victory tonight against the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. 

"I would say everybody counting us out from the beginning kind of builds that chip but also the adversity that we've been through this whole season," Heat center Bam Adebayo said. "The ups and downs, the games that we should've won but didn't win, going to the locker room and trying to figure it out, rewrite whatever we did wrong. Going through that put us in that position. Now, I feel like we're one of the best teams in the league because adversity built us." 

The Heat have this season have proven they can withstand anything, even large deficits. They trailed by nine at halftime of Game 1 before taking control in the third quarter. 

"We're a confident group whether we're up 10, down 10," Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. "We're not too worried about the opposing team. I think whenever you do that, you get lost in what got you here. We were so worried about us all year long and how we can be the best version of ourselves." 

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