Down 3-1 in Finals, Heat still confident: ‘Ain’t nobody going home yet. We’re still here’
History is not on the Miami Heat’s side, but players and coaches remain confident.
Trailing the Los Angeles Lakers 3-1 in the NBA Finals, the Heat faces an elimination game for the first time this postseason in Game 5 on Friday (9 p.m., ABC).
“We all believe that we can get this thing done,” Heat All-Star wing Jimmy Butler said Thursday, with a two-day pause between Tuesday’s Game 4 and Friday’s Game 5. “Ain’t nobody going home yet. We’re still here.”
Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo said: “We’ve got a chance. We still believe. They’re writing us off. Everybody is doubting us. But as long as the people in the locker room and all of our coaching staff have belief in us, that’s all that matters.”
How difficult will it be for the Heat to win three consecutive games to rally from a 3-1 series deficit against LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers?
NBA teams that take a 3-1 lead have won their series 95 percent (246-13) of the time in league history. Only one team has rallied from a 3-1 hole in the Finals, when James led the Cleveland Cavaliers’ comeback to win the 2016 championship over the Golden State Warriors.
In addition, James has won 16 of the past 17 closeout games he has played in dating back to the 2015 playoffs. The Lakers, looking to clinch their 17th NBA championship and first since 2010, are 3-0 in closeout games this postseason.
To the Heat, those are all just numbers that have nothing to do with this year’s championship series.
“We think it’s a really competitive series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have a purpose of why we’re here. We’re competing for a title, and it’s the first team to four wins. There’s a lot of different narratives out there. We don’t give a [expletive] what everybody else thinks. This is everything that we wanted this year, an opportunity to fight for, compete for a title, and that hasn’t changed at all through these first games.”
Then Spoelstra used part of a famous quote from Theodore Roosevelt, who once said: “It is not the critic who counts. ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly.”
“Our guys are the ones who are out there in the arena marred by dust, blood, sweat and tears,” Spoelstra said. “Our guys are the ones out there. Twenty-eight other teams aren’t out there. Everybody else is basically on their comfortable couches spectating on this one. Our guys are the ones that are in the arena, and that’s right where they are meant to be.”
If Spoelstra needed any extra motivation during a day of preparation Thursday, he got it in the form of a piece written by Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton for The Players’ Tribune titled “What This Heat Thing Is All About.”
Payton, who was a member of the Heat team that won the 2006 championship, wrote as part of the piece: “I got one message: Everyone doubts you right now. Everyone’s writing you off. They’re getting ready to CROWN them other guys. They’re shining up that trophy for ’em….. they’ve got that champagne on ice. But they forgot about one thing. Y’all are still here. Y’all are still here — and y’all belong here. Next three games are for the Culture.”
“I had goosebumps,” Spoelstra said of Payton’s words. “It was just the right timing, and what a pleasant surprise, to come from one of the former champions. He knows how difficult competing for a title is, regardless of how you get there, what the score is in the series. At this point, it’s the first team to four. That’s the only thing that matters.”
The Heat-Lakers series has actually been closer than it appears at the surface.
Since dropping Game 1 by 18 points, the Heat has only been outscored by a total of five points between Games 2 and 4. That three-game span included an 11-point win for Miami in Game 3.
Game 4 was hanging in the balance until the final minutes, with the score tied at 83 with 6:27 to play and the Lakers leading by just two points with 3:39 to play.
Instead of the Heat winning those final three minutes and tying the series 2-2, Los Angeles outscored Miami 12-8 during this critical three-minute stretch to take a 3-1 series.
As for the Heat’s injury situation, it appears that it will remain without starting guard Goran Dragic in Game 5. Dragic is doubtful for Friday’s contest.
Dragic has already missed three consecutive games after tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot in Game 1 of the Finals.
“He went through the film session and that was the bulk of what we did,” Spoelstra said. “Status is the same with Goran.”
The Lakers are scheduled to wear their “Black Mamba” uniforms, which were designed in honor of the late Kobe Bryant, in Game 5. Los Angeles is 4-0 this postseason when sporting the “Black Mamba” look.
The chips are firmly stacked against the Heat in this situation, but recent history indicates that overcoming a 3-1 hole is possible. With no home-court advantage in the NBA’s Disney bubble, the Denver Nuggets came back from a 3-1 hole twice this postseason to eliminate the Utah Jazz in the first round and send the Los Angeles Clippers home in the second round.
In fact, the Heat is one of the franchises that has pulled off the rare feat. Miami recovered from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the New York Knicks 4-3 in the second round of the 1997 playoffs.
The Heat hopes to do it for a second time in the coming days.
“This series is far from over,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “This is a great basketball team we’re playing.”
Adebayo noted the team’s motto is “three up, three down,” referencing the three consecutive wins Miami must get to win the series.
“Spo always says, it’s going to be the hardest thing you ever have to do,” Butler said. “I believe him. I’ve seen that, I’ve felt that now. But I wouldn’t change it. I like where we’re at, man. I smile because it’s true. I like where we’re at.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 3:50 PM.
