The Heat are one loss away from elimination and the narrative of a talent gap is very much out there, but the players see things differently.
Miami have the most undrafted players in the league and some are wondering if this has played a factor in their recent struggles.
In three out of four Finals contests, the underdogs have been unable to score more than 95 points and also lost two consecutive home games.
But the Heat disagree with the narrative that is being portrayed.
“It’s disrespectful for people to say that because you can’t just trick your way into the Finals. It takes talent,” Veteran Udonis Haslem told B/R.
“I don’t know what the f*ck they’re talking about with that sh*t. Yes, we have some undrafted players, but they’re also talented players and we’ve made it this far. We just have to limit our mistakes.
“Winning a championship will be the hardest thing you ever do. People only talk about the parade & holding up the trophy. They don’t talk about the journey, the sleepless nights, the frustration, the tears, the pain. They don’t talk about that sh*t, Haslem added to AP.
Kyle Lowry also wasn’t too impressed with the talent gap chatter that is about.
“People are always going to run their mouths. It’s like assholes, everybody’s got one,” Lowry said. “We’ve been in this situation the entire playoffs where people have counted us out and said we’re an undrafted team, but we are in the NBA Finals for a damn reason. I don’t think we listen to the noise because, at the end of the day, a team is 15 deep.”
With the way Denver are playing at the moment, it’s hard to imagine a Miami comeback but Jimmy Butler especially thrives when his back is against the wall.
A player who knows about comebacks is Heat veteran Kevin Love, who was part of the only team to reverse a 3-1 deficit in the Finals, when the Cavs defeated Golden State in 2016.
Love is drawing motivation from that series right now.
“We know anything can happen,” Love told The Athletic. “Has been done before, in a conference final and final. I have been part of it before. You really just have to take it one possession at a time. Forget the game. It’s just one possession, one quarter, half to half. Just to get it done by any means necessary and figure the rest out.”
Love, along with Lowry met outsider the locker room after the game and had a “fierce but constructive conversation for several minutes about the team’s mishaps and discussed ways to improve for Monday.”
The Heat’s passion definitely hasn’t wavered and it seems Miami will continue to fight until the very end.
“We are in a must-win situation every single game, which we’re capable of,” Butler said. “No doubt. We don’t have any of that. We don’t have no quit. We are going to continually fight, starting tomorrow, to get better. And then we are going into Monday and do what we said we were going to do this entire time and win. We have to. We have no other choice. Otherwise, we did all this for no reason.”
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