We should really know better by now than to pencil in matchups for the Eastern Conference finals, given that the Heat are sitting right there. Miami just bides its time, waiting to ruin some well-stocked contender’s year. Forget the regular-season precedent. Forget the matchup logic. The Heat just break teams down and find a way, making them the ultimate spoiler in a conference that feels heavily weighted toward the new-and-improved Bucks and Celtics. It’s hard to blame anyone for believing in those sorts of on-paper powerhouses, but the building of consensus seems to just make the Heat stronger. Gloss over them at your own risk; one way or another, Miami will have its say in deciding this season.
Maybe that will manifest as it did in the 2023 playoffs, when the Heat took advantage of a Giannis injury to bounce the Bucks straight out of the first round. Or maybe Miami’s presence will be felt most in attrition—by wearing down the Celtics and, even if they can’t upset them, taking enough of a toll on them to ensure that Boston doesn’t beat anyone else. No one wants to see Miami in a seven-game series because it is the kind of matchup you can never really win. You can advance only at a cost, or you can fail to and pay an even deeper, existential one.
Superteams rise and fall. Players come and go from Miami’s roster. The world around the Heat changes, and yet they always manage to turn up just the kind of roster that can challenge what we think we know about the competitive order of the NBA. This is just the way of things. If you choose not to accept that, then you too will watch, bewildered, as Cole Swider sends some contender packing next May, wondering how it all came to this.
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Miami Heat
We should really know better by now than to pencil in matchups for the Eastern Conference finals, given that the Heat are sitting right there. Miami just bides its time, waiting to ruin some well-stocked contender’s year. Forget the regular-season precedent. Forget the matchup logic. The Heat just break teams down and find a way, making them the ultimate spoiler in a conference that feels heavily weighted toward the new-and-improved Bucks and Celtics. It’s hard to blame anyone for believing in those sorts of on-paper powerhouses, but the building of consensus seems to just make the Heat stronger. Gloss over them at your own risk; one way or another, Miami will have its say in deciding this season.
Maybe that will manifest as it did in the 2023 playoffs, when the Heat took advantage of a Giannis injury to bounce the Bucks straight out of the first round. Or maybe Miami’s presence will be felt most in attrition—by wearing down the Celtics and, even if they can’t upset them, taking enough of a toll on them to ensure that Boston doesn’t beat anyone else. No one wants to see Miami in a seven-game series because it is the kind of matchup you can never really win. You can advance only at a cost, or you can fail to and pay an even deeper, existential one.
Superteams rise and fall. Players come and go from Miami’s roster. The world around the Heat changes, and yet they always manage to turn up just the kind of roster that can challenge what we think we know about the competitive order of the NBA. This is just the way of things. If you choose not to accept that, then you too will watch, bewildered, as Cole Swider sends some contender packing next May, wondering how it all came to this.