Three suits. Three shirts. Three ties. That could be the modern-day mantra for the Miami Heat, considering Pat Riley summoned the motivational genies back in the glory year of 2006 by saying how he’d packed for his team’s potential close-out game in Dallas.
“One suit, one shirt, one tie,” he famously said.Told this as Friday turned to Saturday, as Game 6’s win turned to Game 7’s thoughts, Heat rookie Josh Richardson stood at his locker and said, “That’s good. I hadn’t heard that one.”
He smiled. “I was, what, 12 then?” Kids these days. No, really, the kids the Heat are winning with these days are something. They add another layer to remind everyone what a remarkable accomplishment this team borders on with Game 7 against the Toronto Raptors.
With a win, there’s the immediate reward of two games in Cleveland to open the Eastern Conference finals. So it’s a three-game road trip demanding three suits in a series’ baggage already stuffed with stitches, sweat and smart thinking.
From a national perspective, this is an existential series since a trip to heavyweight Cleveland and a certain drubbing awaits: Is a win really a win? What is everyone doing here?
But a win for the Heat means this season is golden. It says they’ve had their most fulfilling season after the three championships. Yes, better than the other Finals trips, if you’re measuring hurdles overcome and wringing the most from a roster.
Think of what they will have overcome: LeBron James’ unholy exit, which ended The Big Three and would stagger most franchises for years; Chris Bosh’s loss to a blood clot a second straight February, which robbed the Heat of The Big Two; even Hassan Whiteside and, in some form, Luol Deng this series.
Toronto coach Dwane Casey talks of the Heat’s “championship nature,” which is nice of him. But that nature consists on the court of The Big One. Dwyane Wade keeps lifting a team in a way no one (raising my hand) thought capable at 34 after the last few injury-laden seasons.
Look who’s coming with him into Game 7, too. Deng playing with one hand. Joe Johnson, who was on a 1-for-18 streak on 3-point shots before burying one late in Game 6. Goran Dragic, who always has a great game in him — you’re just not sure when.
Then there’s the kids: Richardson, the 40th overall pick in last year’s draft keeps doing things 40th picks rarely do ever, much less as rookies; Tyler Johnson, a week back from a three-month layoff because of shoulder injury; and Justise Winslow, who is suddenly a 6-7 center.
Can this team rally from 3-2 deficits twice in one playoffs and become the first team in NBA history to do so? Against a Toronto team that won 56 regular-season games? And which — let’s repeat this — had to re-invent themselves after Bosh left in February and Whiteside did in Game 2?
Don’t water down what Sunday’s accomplishment might mean. Don’t say it’s just the middleweight East. Don’t say Cleveland will disassemble whoever wins on Sunday.
Win, and it’s sports magic for the Heat, if your definition of magic involves great accomplishment in the face of problems. Win, and no matter what happens next this Eastern Conference finals banner would define many franchises.
Win, and, again, it’s the best Heat season after those three championships considering the insurmountable hurdles they’ll have surmounted. It reconfirms what everyone in town knows. They’re a blue-ribbon franchise from the top down.
This playoff run is Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s show, too. He has smartly thought on the run again. A few years ago, he lost Bosh in the opening game against a tough Indiana team and had to change everything for that series and for half the Boston series.
This year, Spoelstra didn’t just to change everything when Bosh left. He did again this series when Whiteside left. He studied and probed and came up with a starting lineup of three guards and two small forwards that some coaches wouldn’t even try.
It won’t be easy winning this last game. Not on the road. Not with a hurting team. Not with Toronto stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan back in rhythm of stardom. Three suits. Three shirts. Three ties. That could bring yesterday’s Heat accomplishment and today’s hope into a motivational circle.
This team won’t win a title like that 2006 team. But Game 7 isn’t about advancing to Cleveland. It’s about overcoming the latest hurdle so a good season advances to a remarkable one.