The Heat are used to being a dog in adversity Even if it's hard to turn around 1-3, the G5 has to fight hard to win
Originally compiled from: NY Times
Written by Scott Cacciola
原标题：The Heat Say They Love Adversity. They Must Be Happy Now.
In NBA Finals history, only one team has come back from trailing 3-1, but the Miami Heat seem confident of becoming the second team to do so.
The Heat are used to being in adversity
The Miami Heat's journey along the way doesn't seem perfect. Almost everything was bumpy, difficult, and scarred. Even if they make it through the playoffs — a loss, then a comeback — it doesn't look that convincing. But back to reality, they still made it to the Finals after all, facing the Denver Nuggets.
In the process, the Heat have made adversity part of the team's personality. Adversity makes them stronger and more resilient. Adversity fueled their playoff journey. Adversity raises their level of players and helps them unite as a whole. Adversity gives them a chance to compete for the championship.
The team's All-Star center, Adebayo, referred to the "ups and downs, the good and the bad" of the season, as if they were inseparable traits of the team, as if everything else was empty talk without them. Coach Eric Spoelstra occasionally praises his team – going through the odds.
Adebayo said at a press conference earlier this week: "That's Spoh's way, and many of you probably never thought we'd be in this position right now."
The Heat remain optimistic
The problem, of course, is that there is a price to pay for being in adversity all the time, and the Nuggets' strength is extraordinary. So many talented players. Such a full size. Such a deep lineup. On Friday night, the Nuggets won Game 4 108-95 and the series also led 3-1, just one step away from their first NBA championship. In the face of powerful Nuggets, even the Heat, who are good at getting out of trouble, cannot match it.
The Nuggets led 3-1 in the series. The fifth game will be held in Denver on Monday.
"In Denver, we're going to be ready to give our opponents a tough game," Spoelstra said. He added: "We have the opportunity to play a very competitive game in a great environment."
Spoelstra is very optimistic, but this is nothing new. After all, in this year's playoffs, all the teams that underestimated the Heat paid the price.
"We didn't have an easy season all season," Adebayo said. "It looks like we haven't given up yet."
After reaching the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the East, they refused to give up. In the first-round series against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, they lost two rotation players, Tyler Hiro and Victor Oladipo — Hiro had a broken hand and Oladipo had a torn knee tendon — but they didn't give up on the fight.
Do the Heat want adversity? They eliminated the Bucks in five games.
Do they want more adversity? In the Eastern Conference Finals, they nearly lost their 3-0 lead to the Boston Celtics, but they climbed out of the abyss to win a seventh game in Boston and advance to the Finals. After the game, NFL Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel sent Spoelstra a text message in which he said tough times were opportunities and that Spoelstra didn't need to be reminded.
"Our idea of finding strength in the face of adversity is very similar," Spoelstra said.
The Heat need more people to step up
Now, the Nuggets are giving the Heat adversity they can't afford. Ahead of Game Four, Heat forward Kevin Loew admitted that the team has "very little room for error."
Loew's teammate Duncan Robinson promised that their "sense of urgency should and will be at an all-time high." ”
In the first quarter of Friday's game, the Heat unleashed that urgency through a combination of zone defense and targeting, which limited the Nuggets' outside offense while reducing the power of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray's usual two-man blocking tactic.
But it wasn't long before the Nuggets gained a foothold in the game. Jokic found himself with some space between himself and the defender, then he stepped back from 27 feet and made a three-pointer. Nuggets forward Gordon repeatedly cut to the basket.
Early in the second half, Jokic dribbled straight at Adebayo, crashed into him — once, twice, three times — and then threw the ball up into the basket with his left hand. A beautiful rebound pass from Gordon to Murray helped him score a layup, and then the Nuggets led by 10 points, forcing Spoelstra to call a timeout. Some fans left early in the fourth quarter.
"We have to make some corrections," said Jimmy Butler, who led the Heat with 25 points. "It's not impossible. We have to go out and do that. ”
Jokic was once again as good as usual, scoring 23 points, 12 rebounds and four assists while getting into foul trouble. But he was also fully helped by players like Gordon, who scored 27 points and Bruce Brown scored 21.
Some of the Heat's role players didn't perform well in the series, which hurt the team again during Friday's game. Vincent scored only 2 points and Strus scored none. The Heat ultimately had to rely on veterans Kyle Lowry and Löw, the former scoring all 13 points in the first half, and the latter hitting three three-pointers.
After that, the Heat seemed to realize their new situation — and almost all of them didn't think they had a chance. Calling it a "cliché," Spoestra said he would use weekends to watch games over and over again. Butler said he didn't care.
"We have no way back," he said. "We're going to keep fighting, starting tomorrow, getting better and then we're going into Monday's game and we've said we're going to do that all the time and win." We must do it. We have no other choice. Otherwise, we would have come to this point for no reason. ”
He added: "We've been doing some tough things all year and now it's the hardest thing."
The challenges before them, while not insurmountable, are enormous. In the 2016 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers completed a comeback from 3-1 down, surprising the Golden State Warriors, who set a 73-win record in the regular season. Still, the Cavaliers are the only team to recover from the pitfalls of the Finals; The other 35 teams also tried to reverse but all failed.
Spoelstra said that after the loss, he told the players in the dressing room to "feel what you want". He doesn't expect them to get enough sleep, but that's probably a good thing. He wants them to reflect on what has happened and then refocus on the most difficult task ahead.
"Our people are good at this mouthful," Spoelstra said.
Do the Heat want adversity? They definitely have it now.