Here’s the Miami Herald with some notes on the Heat and their rise to the top of the Eastern Conference in the 2020 NBA playoffs:
The 2019-20 season was one of the most memorable in Miami Heat history, and not just because it advanced to the NBA Finals for the sixth time in franchise history. It’s the path the fifth-seeded Heat took to get there.
Miami is only the third team seeded fifth or lower to play in the NBA Finals since the playoffs expanded to its present 16-team format in 1984. The eighth-seeded New York Knicks represented the Eastern Conference in the 1999 Finals and the sixth-seeded Houston Rockets represented the Western Conference in the 1995 Finals.
The Heat also advanced to the Finals with just one top-10 draft pick on its roster — veteran forward Andre Iguodala, who was ninth overall selection in 2004. Miami used three undrafted players in the Finals series: Derrick Jones Jr., Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson.
If anyone still had any doubt whether Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler was a true max-level player, just look at his Finals stat line. He averaged 26.2 points while shooting 55.2 percent from the field, 8.3 rebounds and 9.8 assists in 43 minutes in the championship series.
