Heat: Perfect letter to underdog 8-seed Miami after NBA Finals run

The Miami Heat may have lost in the 2023 NBA Finals, but they enjoyed a historic run to get to that point.

Jimmy Butler isn’t going to make any excuses or feel like he deserves an appreciation post. But we have to talk about this.

The Denver Nuggets have won the championship, but the Miami Heat have won the hearts of NBA fans everywhere.

They had a bottom-five offense all season. Injuries at the worst possible times. But the craziest part?

NINE. UNDRAFTED. PLAYERS.

Do we understand how insane that is? Nine basketball players who all 30 NBA teams picked 60 other players over.

If you wanted a definition for Miami Heat culture, it’s “overlooked but not overmatched.”

These Heat went 1-1 in the play-in tournament. They lost to Atlanta and then were down three with three minutes left in their season at the time against Chicago.

But they still found a way to advance to the playoffs.

13 teams had higher odds than Miami to win the championship entering the playoffs. They faced the title favorites in Round 1 and lost one of their best scorers in Game 1. Then in Game 3, they lost one of their best bench players.

But they still found a way to beat the Bucks in five.

They got through a hard-nosed Knicks team just to face the team with the SECOND-highest title odds in the East. They almost swept them, then almost got reverse swept by them.

But they still just found a way to beat the Celtics in seven and become the second 8-seed team to ever make the Finals. The Heat became the only team to win a game in Denver this postseason. And even though that’s when the magic stopped, Heat Culture never stopped. Because it’s always been there.