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For Erik Spoelstra, the play-in is “the best thing that has happened to the NBA in the last ten years”

“I don’t like the idea that only the playoffs count. I think we are the perfect example of the opposite”. After the Heat’s victory on the Boston floor in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Erik Spoelstra recalled how invaluable the hardships his team went through this season ultimately proved to be.

Throughout the regular season, the franchise struggled with injuries and finally had to go through the “play-in” to make its place in the playoffs. So many adventures, with a defeat in the first “play-in” match against Atlanta, which had the merit of toughening up his group, and preparing him for this crazy epic in the postseason.

“It’s a blessing to have been able to experience all of this”, did he declare. “I’ve never been in a regular season like this, and I think we’ve all grown and improved from that. We didn’t let each other down, we got tougher, we got closer to each other and we developed the courage and the perseverance that we need at the end of the season”.

In survival mode for three months

As such, the “play-in” is for him the improvement of the decade, in the first place because it involves more teams in the race for the playoffs. The NBA wins on all points, with more stakes and more play.

“There are a lot fewer teams tanking. Everyone has been fighting for this over the past two months. Every game was to be seen, in both conferences. So I think it’s probably the best thing that’s happened to the league in the last ten years.”

This crazy and intense race against the clock has, according to him, sharpened the mind and the body of all of his troops for the exercise of the playoffs, where the intensity and the technical requirement increase by a ton.

“We fought for our survival for three consecutive months for this play-in and with all this adversity. We didn’t do the usual things like player management or counting games at the end. We did everything we could to put ourselves in a position to win.” he added. “It felt like every game was played at the last second. If we could have the privilege of having a regular season like that all the time, it would be incredible.

Having won Game 1 in Boston, Miami is in a strong position at the dawn of the second round tonight.

Shots Bounces
Players GM Minimum Shots 3 points LF Off Def Early pd bp Int CT party Points
Jimmy Butler 64 33.4 53.9 35.0 85.0 2.2 3.7 5.9 5.3 1.6 1.8 0.3 1.3 22.9
Bam Adebayo 75 34.6 54.0 8.3 80.6 2.5 6.7 9.2 3.2 2.5 1.2 0.8 2.8 20.4
Tyler Herro 67 34.9 43.9 37.8 93.4 0.4 5.0 5.4 4.2 2.4 0.8 0.2 1.5 20.1
Max Strus 80 28.4 41.0 35.0 87.6 0.6 2.6 3.2 2.1 0.9 0.5 0.2 2.1 11.5
Kyle Lowry 55 31.2 40.4 34.5 85.9 0.8 3.3 4.1 5.1 1.9 1.0 0.4 2.6 11.2
Victor Oladipo 42 26.3 39.7 33.0 74.7 0.4 2.7 3.0 3.5 2.1 1.4 0.3 2.4 10.7
Caleb Martin 71 29.3 46.4 35.6 80.5 1.2 3.6 4.8 1.6 1.1 1.0 0.4 2.0 9.6
Gabe Vincent 68 25.9 40.2 33.4 87.2 0.4 1.7 2.1 2.5 1.4 0.9 0.1 2.3 9.4
Kevin Love 21 19.9 38.8 29.7 85.7 0.8 4.9 5.7 1.9 1.1 0.4 0.2 1.5 7.7
Cody Zeller 15 14.4 62.7 0.0 68.6 1.7 2.6 4.3 0.7 0.9 0.2 0.3 2.2 6.5
Duncan Robinson 42 16.5 37.1 32.8 90.6 0.2 1.5 1.6 1.1 0.7 0.3 0.0 1.8 6.4
Dewayne Dedmon 30 11.7 49.6 29.7 72.7 0.9 2.7 3.6 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.5 2.0 5.7
Nikola Jovic 15 13.6 40.6 22.9 94.7 0.6 1.5 2.1 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.1 1.3 5.5
Jamal Cain 18 13.3 56.1 35.0 77.3 0.8 2.1 2.9 0.7 0.3 0.6 0.1 1.2 5.4
Omer Yurtseven 9 9.2 59.3 42.9 83.3 0.9 1.7 2.6 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2 1.8 4.4
Haywood Highsmith 54 18.0 43.1 33.9 46.4 1.1 2.4 3.5 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.3 1.5 4.4
Udonis Haslem 7 10.1 34.5 33.3 80.0 0.6 1.0 1.6 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.3 1.6 3.9
Jamaree Bouyea 4 16.3 46.2 40.0 50.0 0.3 1.0 1.3 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.5 1.3 3.8
Orlando Robinson 31 13.7 52.8 0.0 71.0 1.5 2.5 4.1 0.8 0.5 0.4 0.4 1.7 3.7
Dru Smith 5 13.4 35.7 16.7 0.0 0.2 1.6 1.8 1.0 0.2 0.8 0.6 2.0 2.2

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