The Miami Heat gutted out a tough win against the Boston Celtics in Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals. It was a testament to their core beliefs.
The Miami Heat are 1-0 in the Eastern Conference. In a bid to win four games before the Boston Celtics can do so over them, they are a quarter of the way home.
We know, that makes it sound easy enough, but that’s the point. It’s so hard that you can’t take it as one whole thing, you have to take it piece by piece and game by game.
As far as the first fourth of a quartet of wins goes though, the Miami Heat have gotten one. But again, remember, it was a hard one to get.
It was so hard that in order to win it, the Miami Heat had to tap into some of the stuff that only they could. We call it Miami Heat Culture.
What that is in its purest form is a desire and a want to to win or defeat your opponent so bad that it will push you to do anything and everything to win. That’s what the Miami Heat had to put on full display in order to win that ballgame.
Whether it meant suffering through two of their worst quarters in the playoffs, the first and the third of Game One, that’s what they did. Whether it meant also coming back from two double-digit leads as a result of poor play in those quarters, that’s what they did.
This is the stuff that the Miami Heat organization and lore have been built upon. It goes beyond athletic ability and skillset.
This is the stuff that can only be revealed in the moments that were those in Game One of this Eastern Conference Finals. These are the moments where only having more heart and a bigger passion to win can do it for you.
It’s the stuff that, after having the refs call the game especially tender, allows Bam Adebayo to come over from the other side of the box to flat-out negate a Jayson Tatum dunk attempt at the last second to save a lead.
Erased it. Obliterated it. Completely neutralized it.
That’s what Miami Heat Culture is and that’s what it took in order for the Miami Heat to win this first game of the series. That is also why this Game One win was a testament to the Miami Heat Culture and way.