Of any team in the NBA, no team goes through the kind of micro-analysis that the Heat go through. Every win is not good enough. Every loss feels like the world is coming to an end.
This is the price you pay for trying to win not one… not two… not three… you get the picture. Miami brought some of this on itself, but it is also a team capable of accomplishing those lofty, somewhat insane goals. This is after all a team that still needs to come together.
The Playoffs are not quite where teams come together — Miami is already a very good team that knows what makes it successful. Rather the Playoffs are where problem solving and trust are tested through adversity. Teams in a Playoff series get the single-minded devotion of their opponent and that attention makes it hard for teams to operate their primary action.
LeBron James, of all players, probably knows the value of losses in the postseason. Arguably his best Cleveland team went 8-0 through the first two rounds of the Playoffs, only to fall in six to the upstart Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. A lot of the Heat’s strength in the postseason last year came from the emotional five-game series win over the Celtics and a few come-from-behind victories against the Bulls in the conference finals.
Of course, Miami struggled to make adjustments to Dallas’ zone defense and speed in the NBA Finals. It was partly a bad matchup, but the Heat had to live through a summer of disappointment.
This is not to say the Heat should let the Knicks back into the series just to gain the “experience” of adjustments. Still, Miami knows for the battles ahead that how they respond Wednesday night to its Game Four loss will be key in Miami’s quest to win a championship this year.
“Maybe it’s good for us to really sulk on this loss for the next two days, really focus on where we need to be,” Bosh told Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We’re not there right now. We certainly weren’t there [Sunday]. So we’re going to have to go back and maybe it’s good it happened the way it did.”
Sulk is not exactly the word to use considering how the media likes to dissect the Heat’s every syllable. But there is something to learning how to adjust and respond after a loss in a Playoff series. Each game is unique, but when you see the same team over and over again, momentum does build a little bit.
So the question is how will Miami respond to New York in Game Five?
There is nothing to suggest that the Heat will not close the series out. But those adjustments and how they respond to the heartbreaking loss in New York could be a hint at how the Heat will respond in those later Playoff wars.
