Count out the Miami Heat at your own peril

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Momentum in sport is a real and powerful thing.

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But it is not insurmountable.

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The Miami Heat are proof of that.

When their Eastern Conference Final with the Boston Celtics began, it was tough to find anyone outside of the state of Florida and probably more precisely outside those Heat locker room doors willing to give Miami a real chance of taking down the Celtics.

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But three games into the series that thinking changed as the Heat first walked into Boston and stole two and then came home and got one more to snatch all the momentum and put the Celtics’ season on death’s door down 3-0 in the best-of-seven series.

The next momentum swing was equally as stunning.

With the entire sports world screaming that a 3-0 hole was as good as done and that no team in league playoff history had ever climbed out of that deficit, the Celtics crawled all the way back into this one.

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A win in Game 4 in Miami was followed by a win in Boston in Game 5 and suddenly momentum belonged to Boston. It was further hammered home in Game 6 when the Celtics, against all odds, pulled off a last-second comeback on a Derrick White putback with just fractions of a second on the clock off a Jayson Tatum three-point miss.

It was the sort of devastating turnaround that leaves teams barely able to function and it was why, for the second time in the series, the Celtics were once again considered the heavy favourites to win it all returning to their familiar surroundings in Boston for an expected return to the NBA Finals.

SEVEN-POINT FAVOURITES

The Celtics were seven-point favourites to complete the comeback and become the first team in 151 attempts to rally from an 0-3 deficit in an NBA playoff series.

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As we know now, the momentum turned again but this time it got a little kickstart courtesy of a game-opening sequence that saw the Celtics biggest scoring threat in Tatum land awkwardly on the foot of a fallen Gabe Vincent in the game’s opening minute.

Tatum was not himself the rest of the night.

Even when he would make a play, the cost in pain and discomfort it would take was evident on his face.

He would go on to shoot just 5-for-13 from the field and 1-of-4 from three for a 14-point night.

No one on the Celtics would score more than 19 in the game.

And while Tatum’s discomfort was a huge part of the result, so too was the overall perseverance shown by the Heat.

Respected around the league for their hard play and even harder resolve, the Heat needed all of that to get back on track in this one.

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Even with the Tatum mishap to begin the game, the Celtics still got off to a solid start and were up early before Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra went back to the zone defence that had given Boston problems earlier in the series.

From that point on, about the midway point of the first quarter, the Heat were in control of the game.

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Jimmy Butler, the man primarily responsible for getting the Heat that early 3-0 lead in the series, was properly rewarded with the series MVP trophy, ironically named after one of Boston’s all-time greats Larry Bird.

Butler did have a game-high 28 points along with seven rebounds and six assists in the Game 7 clincher but for the entirety of the series the Heat’s most consistent contributor was Caleb Martin.

The 27-year-old forward was second in team scoring in the series with just over 19 points a game but shot a ridiculous 60.2% from the field and just under 49% from behind the arc.

Without Tyler Herro, who did not play a minute in the series — though there is talk of a Game 3 Finals return, the Heat leaned heavily on their second-tier players and none came up bigger than Martin.

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Martin was actually waived by the Charlotte Hornets back in 2021 and had to accept a two-way contract with the Heat just to stay in the league. He had that two-way converted in February 2022 and signed a multi-year contract with the Heat that summer.

In today’s NBA world of max deals where 10 players have already cracked the $40-million-a-season barrier and 20 others make more than the $32.4 million Denver’s Nikola Jokic makes, Martin is a steal at $6.479 million for this past season. His contract will see him remain under $7 million for at least two more seasons.

But that is what happens in Miami. Guys who go there figure it out. They find their niche and out-earn their contracts.

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Max Strus and Gabe Vincent, both key contributors all season long for the Heat, make less than $2 million a season although both will have to be re-signed if they are to remain in Miami.

But sound financial management is just part of the Heat way.

The more impressive part is the way this team competes year after year regardless of which stars arrive or leave.

It’s a testament to the stewardship of Pat Riley and the no-excuse philosophy of head coach Spoelstra.

And it’s a big reason why a team that looked ready to make history by blowing a 3-0 lead did not.

The Heat will open as heavy underdogs to the Western Conference champion Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals, but don’t let the oddsmakers sway you. This team is built to win.

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