Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler showed his appreciation for head coach Erik Spoelstra as they celebrate their Eastern Conference Finals win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

The 31-year-old swingman took Coach Spo to a trip down memory lane after wearing Spoelstra's no.30 jersey during his playing days with the University of Portland.

Here's a clip of Jimmy Buckets' touching gesture for the beloved Heat bench boss:

Coach Spo, of course, is considered one of the savviest tacticians in the league today. However, not much is known of his rather insignificant time as the starting point guard for the Pilots from 1988 to 1992.

Spoelstra averaged decent numbers of 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game in his four-year collegiate career.Ā  The Asian-American coach is part of the school's 1,000-point club and is still among the team's career leaders in several statistical categories.

Prior to calling the shots for the Finals-bound Heat, Coach Spo also tried his luck playing overseas after college. Ā He served as a playing-assistant coach in Basketball Bundesliga's second division team, TuS Herten before back problems forced him to retire.

Erik Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler, meanwhile, certainly share a bond deeper than the typical coach-player relationship. For a player once criticized for supposedly being a ā€œlocker room cancer,ā€ Butler is definitely enjoying himself by honoring his Heat teammates and coaches.

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