Heat coach Eric Spoelstra praised the NBA’s play-in tournament as he discussed the journey that prepared Miami for its playoff run that has led it to lead the Celtics 1–0 in the Eastern Conference finals.
After the Heat’s 46-point third quarter that fueled their 123-116 victory against Boston on Wednesday night, Spoelstra commended the play-in games as a means of limiting late-season tanking.
“I do know the play-in helped,” Spoelstra told reporters. “There are far less teams tanking. Everyone was fighting for it those last two months. Every game was must-see TV. … So I think [for] the league, that’s probably the best thing that’s happened in the last decade.”
Miami finished the regular season winning six of its last 10 games and needed a win against the Bulls in the second play-in game to earn the eighth seed in this year’s playoffs. Since then, the Heat completed the gentleman’s sweep of the No. 1-seeded Bucks and conquered the No. 5-seeded Knicks in six games to become the first eighth seed in nearly 25 years to reach the conference finals.
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The Heat reached the playoffs in each of the previous four seasons, reaching the Finals in the bubble 2020 playoffs. But this season, one that was filled with adversity for Miami, Spoelstra said finishing the regular season strong and persevering through the play-in tournament was a necessity to be in the position they are now.
“We are in that struggle fighting for our competitive lives for three-straight months because of the play-in and because of all the adversity,” Spoelstra said. “We were not doing load managing or just counting games, we were doing whatever we had to do to try and put ourselves in a position to win.
“It was a blessing to be able to go through all of that. I have not been part of a regular season like that, and I think we all grew and got better from it.”
Miami will look to take a 2–0 advantage against Boston in Game 2 of the series on Friday.
