Miami Heat stars Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry are down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, but they still have an old promise to make good on.

The two became friends years ago, when Butler was a Chicago Bull and Lowry was still a Toronto Raptor. Their fierce competitive natures just clicked. As teammates in the 2016 Rio Olympics, they made a pact: “Whenever me and you get together, we will win a championship,” Butler told Lowry at the time, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell.

Neither of them could've predicted that Miami would be the place to do it, but seven years later, the Heat stand just three wins away from delivering on the promise. However, those three wins look tough to come by, as the Denver Nuggets have dominated through the first four games of this series.

Only one team has ever crawled back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals — LeBron's Cleveland Cavs in 2016, a team Kevin Love was a big part of. Ironically, that was just a few weeks before Butler and Lowry swore they'd capture a ring together.

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These two stars are exemplary of that strong Heat culture everyone always talks about. They're tough, mentally and physically, and they play hard and out-compete anyone in another jersey.

If there was a team to pull off this incredible comeback, it would be Miami. From having their backs against the wall in the play-in tournament to a Game 7 on the road in the Boston Garden, this team has responded. Down but never out.

Butler and Lowry possess this quiet, calm confidence that's difficult to explain and impossible to fake. It's not arrogance. It's trust in experience and in the work they've put in year after year to get to where they are now.

There's no more room for error. But count on these two to fight tooth and nail to keep their season alive and come through on that old promise.