WEBVTT - Episode 3: The Big Failure 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.880 I mean it's different eras. So there was regular seats, which. 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:13.319 Are beautiful, and there was woods, which are beautiful too. 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.439 So you probably see me when I started to be 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.000 able to touch them woods, because the energy in the 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.480 regular seats is unbelievable. Anywhere in that arena is beautiful, 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.520 you were saying. But it's also a blessing to be 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.080 able to sit on the woods right beside the heat 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.960 and just feel that energy and hear the conversations and 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.800 the thought processes and then the pressure, you. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:41.000 Know, up coach and personal. It's a blessing. 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.680 Just about everyone who was anybody wanted to be near 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.159 this Miami Heat team once things turned around, not just 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:53.400 DJ Khaled. Welcome back to four years of Heat. I'm 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.240 your host, Israel Dutierrez and this is episode three, The 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:02.160 Big Failure. Last we checked, the Miami Heat were rolling 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.400 into twenty eleven, winning twenty one of twenty two games. 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.760 In fact, they'd won twenty two of twenty four, with 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:12.240 the only two l's being those foreshadowing losses to the 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.720 Dallas Mavericks. But there would be another formidable foe testing 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.560 every last nerve of the Miami Heat. That team was 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:26.560 the Chicago Bulls. But unlike the rivalry with the Mavericks, 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:30.080 this conflict had a couple more layers to it. This 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.600 one began before Miami even signed Bosh, Wade and James, 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.600 because the Bulls were trying to do the exact same thing. 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.400 Signed Bosh, Wade and James, probably in that order. 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:42.720 We were trying to get all those guys to come 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.800 to Chicago. You know, the goal was always to get 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.040 the team as strong as possible. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.800 That was Joe Kim Noah. He was a thirteen year 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.920 NBA veteran, a two time All Star, and the Defensive 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.240 Player of the Year in twenty fourteen. He also won 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.120 a pair of national titles for my Florida Gators in college, 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.360 which is probably an unnecessary note, but hey, the host 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.360 gets a little leeway. He spent the first nine years 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.760 of his career with the Bulls, and given that his 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.000 teammate Derek Rose wasn't the most vocal or outgoing of stars, 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.399 the gregarious Noah was offering his best recruiting pitches when 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:18.480 Miami's trio were free agents in twenty ten. 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:23.520 But I remember Chris Bosh coming to Chicago and he 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:28.359 wasn't sure yet. I could tell and I mean Chicago 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:30.440 would have been such a good fit for himself. I 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.960 always felt like if Bosh came that he could get 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:34.959 those other guys too. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.000 This wasn't some desperate dream for Chicago either. Remember when 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.040 Wade said he didn't talk to Lebron for a few 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.280 days prior to the decision. Well, Wade wanted to make 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.239 sure all his bases were covered before he resigned with 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.360 Miami as well, and that meant checking in with his 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:56.040 hometown team of Chicago one more time before committing. As 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.680 Brian Windhorst a ESPN tells it, Wade made one final 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.200 visit to Chicago with the very real intention of trying 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.240 to bring the trio to a Bulls team already featuring 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:07.799 Rose and Noah. 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:12.520 When Dwayne Wade had two meetings with the Bulls, he 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:16.320 didn't have that second meeting for fun. He was seriously 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:20.440 wanting to listen to them. And the dynamics around that 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:24.320 were very interesting because in the first meeting with the Bulls, 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:30.200 the Bulls didn't give Dwayne Wade their entire pitch because 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:34.840 they were afraid that Dwayne was going to take their 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.480 ideas and their plans for free agency immediately back to 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.840 the Heat, they thought they were getting a cursory meeting, 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.440 and after meeting with the Heat and hearing the triple 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.560 threat idea from pat Riley to get himself to stay 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:53.880 and to add Bosh and Lebron, when Wade asked for 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.880 the second meeting with the Bulls, he asked the Bulls 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.200 if they could create enough salary cap space to be 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.400 all to be able to bring in Bosh and Lebron, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.960 and so in a way, when the Bulls first met 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:09.040 with Dwayne, they were concerned that he was going to 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.480 be a mole, when in fact, at the end, it 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.840 was actually Dwayne that took the Heat's plan to the 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:19.479 Bulls and presented it because frankly, with Joe, Kim, Noah 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.359 and Derek Rose on the roster, their team could have 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.880 been even better with the big three than the Heat 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:26.400 could have been. 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.560 In the end, the Bulls wound up signing free agent 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.240 Carlos Boozer from Utah to add to their youthful mix 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.240 of talent. With the Bulls having been the closest team 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.400 outside of Miami or Cleveland to sign Lebron Boscher Wade, 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.680 it provided the backdrop for what would be a contentious 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:45.400 season between the teams. Noah and the Bulls settled comfortably 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.400 into that rivalry, not just because they had a talented 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.520 roster headed by a player who would be named MVP 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.040 at the end of the season, but because they felt 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.480 the support from around the country from people who wanted 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:57.640 to see Miami fail. 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:59.880 There was a lot of people who hated the Heat, 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:04.440 so we actually kind of felt like we were like 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.719 the underdog, you know, the guys who had a chance 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:09.920 to get them, and that was that was pretty cool, 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.039 you know. I felt that not just for love from Chicago, 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.880 but from from all around the country, you know, because 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.360 there wasn't too many teams that could even compete with them. 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.440 Indeed, the Heat were thirty and eleven going into the 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.960 first regular season meeting with the Bulls. Miami had lost 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.960 too straight went without James to start a road trip, 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.800 but it was nothing like the panicky losses from the 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.640 start of the season. That is, until the Heat got 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.280 to Chicago. January fifteenth was the first of three regular 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.599 season losses to the Bulls, all agonizingly close games. And 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.280 if there were major questions hovering around the Heat at 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.400 the time, among them was the classic who lead the 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.080 way late in a close game. Not so much for 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.159 the ninety nine to ninety six first loss to the 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.359 Bulls because Lebron sat that game out and Bosh was 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.719 playing through an aggravated back injury. The second meeting with 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.560 the Bulls happens five weeks later, again in Chicago. Here's 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.120 where it really started to look like the Bulls had 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:10.560 the Heat's number. Miami had its three stars available, but 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.040 only two really showed up to play on this night. 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.560 Bosh not only had his worst career shooting night, going 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.280 one for eighteen from the field with Noah guarding him 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.560 most of the night, but he had probably the floppiest 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.360 moment of his career, falling to the ground and grabbing 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:29.080 his face after Boozer maybe grazed it with his elbows. 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:34.880 Boser and Bosh. 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:35.039 Offensive time. 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:37.320 Now did they collide? 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:42.360 That Ooser and Bosh collide for the offensive Albert, because 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.520 all of Boozer did was turn right into him. 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:47.520 This is all about selling it. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.479 Caw, which sometimes you've got. 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:50.320 To sell it. 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:52.480 And if it was support from the others Bosh was 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.039 hoping for, he wouldn't get that either. The Heat bench 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.880 scored all of two points in this game, and Eddie House, Bucket, 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.920 Oh and Lebron, Wade and Bosh all played more than 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:08.360 forty minutes in a regular season game in February. That's 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:13.320 almost unthinkable in today's regular season NBA. Miami still only 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.480 lost that game by four points. Then there was the 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.000 third and final meeting of the season, the only one 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.160 in Miami, just two weeks removed from the last matchup. 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.120 This time, the Heat bench tripled its output, giving the 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:30.120 Heat six wopping points from reserves. Rose out scored everyone 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.640 with twenty seven points, and the Heat lost a one 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.760 point game, scoring just eighty six points, the lowest total 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.760 of the three meetings, and it was a painful finish 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.560 that fed into all of the Heat teams and securities. 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.240 Here's a portion of the NBA TV highlights from that 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.440 night with Mark Fine and Brent Barry. 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.520 Now Chicago off won last play, Who's going to get 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:50.880 the ball? 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.880 Lebron Oh, Lebron James here on an isolation on Noah, 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.840 you take your chances here, But again, Miami Heat is 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.520 the talk of the town. Not Able to finish, gets 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.080 a second chance and no good. 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.840 Two of the three d missed there and hey, great 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.520 win for the Chicago Bulls on the road beating a 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.400 Miami t team that again desperately wanted to win. 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.240 They have lost four straight. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.880 Now after the game, head coach Eric Spolster wanted to 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.960 get across to the media and viewing audience just how 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:25.160 much his players cared. But Sposter apparently broken unwritten rule 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.880 that professional basketball players can't show emotional vulnerability. 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.640 That's the only thing that's about right now, and this 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.760 is painful for every single one of us going through this. 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:41.480 There a couple guys crying in the locker room right now. 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.679 It is not a matter of want. It is a 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.120 matter of doing and continuing to put ourselves in this 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:49.920 position until we break through. 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.240 Spolster's revelation led to Wade being asked about the emotional 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:54.800 locker room. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.480 I know, you guys get tired of sitting up here 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.679 explaining the same thing over and over again. But sposually 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:02.880 said it was an emotional locker room. Afterwards, some guys 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.839 were crying and that kind of thing. What where is 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:09.079 this team right now? Mentally just from a psychic standpoint, well, 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:09.680 right now. 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.920 You know we we we f we lost four in 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:19.240 a row. You know, we lost three, three out of four. 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.760 That we should have won, could have won at home, 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:25.880 so you know we had to figure it out. You know, 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.880 we it'side our locker room. You know, we stay together. 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.199 You know we're brothers. You know we win together, we 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:37.200 lose together. Outside of the Miami Heat are exactly what 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.559 everyone wanted, you know, losing games. The world's better now 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.200 since the Heat is losing. But we're figured out. You know, 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:45.920 it's just it's just painful. 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:46.480 It hurts. 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.560 You know, we're competitors' winners, we're human, and and we'll 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.600 move on and try to learn from it through frustration. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:55.120 You wanna know IFOU was cr why you wanna know 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:59.320 if I was crying? The question is I'm not gonna 0:09:59.320 --> 0:09:59.800 tell you that. 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.000 I remember leaving that postgame news conference with Spolster thinking, Wow, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.280 regular season basketball doesn't get more intense than this, And 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.040 Spoe really brought that home with just the one observation. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.240 What the rest of the country seemed to be saying, though, 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.880 was some combination of the Heat or a weak minded group, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.320 and Spolster is not the coach for them if he's 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:25.480 betraying locker room confidences. Frankly, it was some of the 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.960 harshest overreaction to this Heat team, and that's saying a lot. 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.760 I mean, how often does a sports viewing audience love 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.840 to see the raw motion of competition? It humanizes athletes, 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:40.600 and we love it. Apparently not when it's Lebron weighed 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.320 in bosh. As reports eventually surfaced that players on other 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:48.600 teams were quietly mocking the emotional Heat, it would be 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:53.600 regular season wise the Heat's lowest point lower even than 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.679 the nine and eight start, because those were expected growing 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.800 pains from a group of new teammates. Tim Reynolds of 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:03.280 the Associated Press believes the Heat actually needed to experience 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.440 both the losses to the Bulls and the reemergence of 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.280 all the questions surrounding the team. 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.959 Every loss was enormous, and there was no joy in 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:17.240 the wins. So it just seemed like with every loss 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:19.920 when they was twenty seven that first year, I think 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.720 they went fifty five something like that, it just felt 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.640 like they went o in twenty seven, the wins were forgotten, 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.720 and so with every loss it just got progressively angrier, 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.439 The questions got louder, The joy for a lot of 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:38.679 people got heightened by They're not good enough, They're not 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:40.480 good enough, They're not good enough, They're not good enough. 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:45.000 Chicago probably was one of a lot of tipping points 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:51.880 that year. But again, that team, it didn't know it then, 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.800 but it needed nine to eight. It needed something to chase, 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.440 It needed to stumble against certain teams. It needed to 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.600 have questions, It needed to have doubters. If they'd gone 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.920 seventy three and nine like the Warriors did in sixteen, 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.720 they probably wouldn't have won either. They needed that for 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.760 whatever reason. They needed these opponents, real or imagined, to 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:15.280 pop up and get in their path. 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.720 The Bulls were very real, not imagined, and they would 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:23.079 definitely pop up again. The Heat ended that season winning 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.319 fifteen of their last eighteen games, settling into the number 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.600 two seed behind those Chicago Bulls. The first round against 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.600 the Philadelphia seventy six ers of Drew Holliday, Elton Brand 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:36.080 and Andrea Aguadala was a drama free five game series 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.480 win for Miami. The second round was another five game series, 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.199 this time over the hated Celtics. This felt like such 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.640 an accomplishment. Lebron got on his knee and bowed his 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:47.640 head after the game. 0:12:48.440 --> 0:13:01.640 Jeez over Pears, he the tugger something still. 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.040 One demastating turnover. 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:10.920 But thanks to after another less just going into the chess, Lebron, 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:18.000 Miami is going to close it out. Drain Wade and 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.000 Lebron James exercised. 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:25.000 Some demons dramatic for a second round win. But that's 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.640 how big a rival the Celtics were to Lebron, who 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.800 would apologize to the city of Cleveland afterward for having 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.760 to leave there just to beat Boston. It was a 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.120 bit of a tease, though, as the most intense series 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.440 against Boston was still a year away. So we'll just 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.720 move on to the Eastern Conference Finals against those confident Bulls. 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.680 It was the first time the Heat were actually expected 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.800 to fail. They were facing the number one seeded Bulls 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.520 that matched up well against Miami, and they had the 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.320 explosive MVP and Derrick Rose, who was threatening to take 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.880 the league right from under Lebron in the Heat. The 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.160 Bulls took Game one of the series in Chicago with 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:08.000 relative ease, one o three to eighty two. Bosh, who'd 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:11.040 had his career worst shooting performance against the Bulls earlier 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.800 in the season, managed to drop thirty in Game one, 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.640 but James and Wade combined for just thirty three, had 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:18.200 a very. 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.359 Quiet night full of Ron James just five for fifteen 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:26.240 fifteen parts to Wayne Wade seven of seventeen just eighteen 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.320 parts his Paul Bull. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.800 But here by the Bulls they sling it out watch 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:37.960 him for three Hopson, I have been. 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:42.480 To the mountain top of back tas Gibson with the 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:48.920 followed dunk Jr. Bowles is excited about this young, energetic team. 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:54.960 Nine parts, seven rebounds and a couple of sensational dunks 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.680 by Gibson. The Bulls just brought out for Cluck a 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.200 sensational right put the balls. 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:08.720 Here like take final series like you what. 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.320 That Prodically After the game, however, Joe Kim Noah made 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:14.800 note of what he saw from the heat, or rather 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.240 what the heat made him notice. 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.680 You know, we won, game won, And something I remember 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:26.080 from that was the whole Miami team was just waiting 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.960 outside outside the locker room after the games. 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:32.240 Usually you go straight back to the bus, you handle 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.600 your business. But the whole they really send a message 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:38.720 by just all being outside like like. 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:39.600 We've been here before. 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.720 I'll never I'll never forget that they wanted us to 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:46.360 see them, you know, before we left and let them 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.040 know like bro right you know this is a long series, 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.400 so yeah, I remember that. 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.080 And you think that was one intentional like they wanted 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:55.880 you to see that. 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:00.560 You know, that's that's the game with in the game, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.240 you know that people you forget, but talking about it, 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.080 I never talked about these things. 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.760 But you know, it's a real war out there. 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.480 It's not check as it's chest. The Heat made their 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.480 presence fell despite the loss, and the team had another 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.800 surprise for the Bulls in Game two. You remember all 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.400 the hullabaloo around you Donnis Haslam and the Heat's main 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.680 players taking pay cuts to bring him back. 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:26.400 To the team. 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:31.080 Well, all that sacrifice didn't result in much to this point, 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.480 thanks to a foot injury early in the season. Haslam 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.400 had surgery to repair a list frank fracture in November 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.400 twenty ten, and it was believed to be season ending. 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:44.240 But by the time the Eastern Conference Finals arrived, Haslam 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.960 had played three brief minutes late in the Boston series 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.520 and the final four minutes of garbage time in Game 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.920 one against Chicago. He was ready for more. 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.120 I remember that. I remember that. I mean Joe Kim Noah, 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.920 I remember Joe Kim Noah and Bouza was kicking our 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:04.240 eyes physically. Yeah, they were young, they were they were ambitious, 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.679 they were physical, and they were giving us everything we wanted. 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:11.560 And you know, even though we had you know a 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.760 lot of bron and a lot of the Wade, they 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:16.760 were a good team. They were a good team that 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.119 Kirk Heinrich, you know there was they were solid. They 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.240 were if it was any team that was probably built 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.520 to give us you know, hell, there's probably that team. 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.720 You know what I'm saying them in Indiana. So I 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.840 just remember coming in practice the day before and telling 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.520 Sport I want to play. I'm ready, I want to play. 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.280 I think I can help us. I went through that 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.399 practice the day before I got okay, and I just 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.600 knew the next day I was I was going to play, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:48.879 and I just knew that I was going to have 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.320 an impact because I've been watching that series. I've been 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.480 watching the physicality, and I'm thinking in my in my mind, 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:56.440 I'm saying to myself, if I'm in their locker room, 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:58.600 I'm going to try to beat these guys up. You know, 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.680 this is how I'm going to come back. The greatness 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.680 and the athleticism and the speed and the skill I'm 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.600 just gonna beat them up. I'm making physical and once again, 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.280 that's right up my alley. Like I told you, they can't. 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.439 They wanted me to be here for a reason. You know, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.000 they sacrificed for me for a reason. So once again 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:16.160 I'm gonna give them the money's worth. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:22.840 Haslam's toughness, rebounding, defense, and leadership where elements the Heat 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.280 had been missing all season, and in this game too, 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.160 Haslam provided it all in his first real game. 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:37.359 Back Ice passed that couch you file killing drawer. 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.280 Now the Rebottles handled five again the Heat in the 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.040 open form. 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:50.000 You thought us hauslo down. I know, Pads Gibson was 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:54.360 playful way every this game. Who's got Haslem is got 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.720 Battle's a channel right here for Miami. 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.879 The Heat held the Bulls to seventy five pointints and 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.439 they outrebounded Chicago by four after getting buried on the 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.720 glass in game one, all part of the haslm effect. 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:13.159 Now Lebron did his thing also more. Actually, he not 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:15.919 only led the Heat to victory, but he helped calm 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.200 some of the concern that he would fold under pressure. 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.399 Back in Miami, the Heat managed two more wins and 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.679 headed back to Chicago to close the series. Even that 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.440 required a superhuman finish from the duo of Wade and James. 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.640 Down twelve with just over three minutes left in the game, 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.720 the pair scored sixteen of the game's next eighteen points 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.840 to take the lead with thirty seconds remaining. What couldn't 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:42.320 they do? 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:48.640 Seventy seven sixty five? Chicago waight on a wrong mike shit. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:55.600 Halway James for free? Yes, Lebron, James down job wait 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.320 on a step light for prey and he was foul. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.040 Oh Drames for free. I'm the Davis time. 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:08.440 That's seven nine The polls call for time. So Lebron 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:09.720 with the strip five. 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.800 Yes, Miami, that's taken away. 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.879 A pair of Boss free throws and excellent defense by 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.560 Lebron against the MVP rows sealed the eighty three eighty 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.080 win and a berth in the NBA Finals. A regular 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:28.000 season of aggravation and tears versus Chicago turned into just 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.200 another five game series win for Miami. 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.240 Battle three, Battle two. Here's Rose, can it get it off? 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:39.680 It is block have come for the high to the 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:41.560 three forty cargos. 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:47.159 Eighty three eighty and Miami is headed to the NBA 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:52.840 Finals for another match up the Bawds. 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.520 So this we came together for get back to the 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.800 finals and give ourselves an opportunity to host that trophy. 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.240 De Way's done it once and I've been working my 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.600 tail off for eight years to try it to do it, 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.639 and uh, you know, this is a big step for us. 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.440 It felt like the fairy tale had already been written. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.920 The Dallas Mavericks would eventually await them in the finals, 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.280 but that team couldn't possibly provide the nightmare fuel the 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.920 Bulls did throughout the season. Sure, they swept Miami in 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:24.960 the regular season, but both of those happened before the 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.280 Heat found their true groove. Yep, that's pretty much what 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.480 the rest of the basketball viewing audience figured as well. 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.960 He'd be MAVs. It was going to be a coronation 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.399 for King James. This is where the narrator is supposed 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:37.720 to say. 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:41.480 It wasn't Terry move me to his right, to the 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:43.560 top of the ark and down a dark He's open 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:44.800 for three all the way. 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:49.840 God, that's God. What twenty six? What seven seconds remaining 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:51.840 a twenty to two run. 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.840 One of the most incredible comebacks in the NBA Finals history. 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.920 The twenty eleven Dallas Mavericks finished third in the Western Conference. 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:13.880 They finished second in the Southwest Division. They had one 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.760 All Star, Dirk Novisky, and a reputation for not getting 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.480 it done in the playoffs, whether it was a finals 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:22.880 loss after being up two games to none in two 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:23.840 thousand and six. 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:29.680 Jerry puts up go break Way the Bay Heat. They've 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:33.479 done it. They won their first championship in franchise. 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:38.160 History or a first round exit with the MVP version 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:40.360 of Navisky, the greatest. 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.520 Up shop in the history of the NBA Finals. 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:47.639 Their half of pre books Up Dallas coveris in such 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:52.280 as for sin Freddy Comes from Above, You Want to 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:54.760