The Miami Heat Earned a Trip to the N.B.A. Finals the Hard Way
The N.B.A.’s Eastern Conference championship trophy had found its way to the visiting locker room at TD Garden on Monday night. Set atop a couple of packing trunks with metallic trim, the trophy — a sterling silver replica of a basketball — was an attraction for the Miami Heat, who had earned it the hard way with their stunning 103-84 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the conference finals.
Players and staff members, clad in N.B.A. finals hats and T-shirts, positioned themselves next to to the trophy for photographs and selfies, memorializing the team’s beautiful struggle before a late-night flight to Denver, where they will face the Nuggets for the N.B.A. championship starting Thursday.
“We never thought it would be easy,” Miami forward Bam Adebayo said.
The Heat’s resurgence as the East’s No. 8 seed has surprised everyone but them. Even when they were scuffling through the regular season, losing nearly as often as they won, Coach Erik Spoelstra stuck with his approach. Spoelstra said they were capable of improving if they continued to focus on their daily work. There was nothing especially sexy about it — meeting after frustrating losses, watching film, practicing hard.
