Huge Miami Heat fan Manny Diaz: If we could only get LeBron ‘on Biscayne Boulevard’
It’s no secret Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz is a huge Miami Heat fan.
So, naturally, he’s ecstatic the Heat beat the Boston Celtics late Sunday to advance to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time since 2014.
He just wishes that former Heat star and current Lakers star LeBron James could face all the crazy Heat fans up close and personal at the AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami — instead of just on TV at the bubble in Orlando because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bring on LeBron
“The only thing that breaks my heart is that we don’t have LeBron coming down and the Lakers coming down to this arena for a home game with this place packed,’’ Diaz said Monday in an interview with WQAM. “I promise you, that would be an uncomfortable place for the LA Lakers. They got a great team, but man, if we could get them on Biscayne Boulevard, wouldn’t that be something?”
WQAM host Joe Rose asked Diaz, whose now-No. 8 Hurricanes decimated Florida State 52-10 Saturday and next face No. 1 Clemson on Oct. 10, what he sees in Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s team besides their winning.
“You see how connected they are,’’ Diaz said. “And if you listen to Spo, and it’s been a great inspiration to us, they have a great respect for how hard it is to win. And they talk about it all the time.
“It is hard to win a game. It is hard to win any game in the playoffs. It’s certainly hard to win the fourth game in the playoffs and finish somebody off. Now to win three consecutive series and earn the right to go to the NBA Finals — selflessness.
Pureness of team
“One guy will go off for 30 — whether it’s Bam [Adebayo] last night or [Tyler] Herro a couple nights ago or [Jimmy] Butler — and not caring who gets the credit. That is the pureness of a team. I don’t know how you can be a sports fan and not root for the Heat.”
Then, Diaz brought it back to his Hurricanes, saying how good it has been for the program to win on national TV in prime time two weeks in a row, reminding how fast things can change and imagining what it would have been like had Saturday’s Canes-Seminoles game been in front of a full house.
“Look, we know things can change quickly in college football in both directions,’’ Diaz said. “That’s why we don’t take anything for granted, because they can still change. The story this year is not yet written but it does make an impact in college recruiting and players do see that we had a plan here and if we get the right people in the right places they can see what it looks like.
Miami ‘heck of a place’
“We’ve talked about this before over the past few years — just getting a feel of what it’s like when the Hurricanes are rolling, and what it’s like being in this town when the Canes or the Dolphins or even we’re seeing now with the Heat. When Miami has got it rolling, this is a heck of a place.
“I thought the fans in the stadium Saturday were awesome but man, if it had been packed, what an atmosphere, what a night. The Jaelan [Phillips interception] play would have blown the roof off the place. Like Trajan Bandy against Notre Dame [in 2017]. But it’s coming. We’ve got to believe it. Those days are coming if we do the right thing.
“For our players inside the building it’s important to stay grounded and not worry about all the outside, because we’ve seen it both ways. Three weeks ago nobody cared about the Miami Hurricanes. Nobody wanted to talk to us. Going back to the Heat, that sort of chip-on-the-shoulder mentality that we are the underdog has always served the Miami Hurricanes best.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 10:23 AM.
