With the Miami Heat defying the odds throughout the entire NBA playoffs thus far leading up to the NBA Finals, a lot has been said about “Heat Culture” and how it has been the reason for the team’s success this year and during their title runs in the past.
The one that gets the bulk of the credit for “Heat Culture,” and rightfully so, is Pat Riley, who has his fingerprints all over each of the three titles won by the franchise.
Although Riley gets the nod for building “Heat Culture” in Miami, former NBA superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Gary Payton argue that they’re the ones that brought that mentality and hard-nosed basketball to the Heat via NBA on TNT.
“We started that. We started the Miami Heat winning championships.”@GaryPayton and @SHAQ on "Heat Culture" 🔥 pic.twitter.com/vBbzCK2J9p
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 6, 2023
This is a bold statement to make for both O’Neal and Payton, but they aren’t wrong when they say they were a big part of winning the franchise’s first title back in 2006 when Miami beat Dirk Nowitzki’s Dallas Mavericks.
The impressive part of “Heat Culture” is that it has endured for almost two decades and seven NBA Finals appearances during that period.
Star forward Jimmy Butler has continued that culture during his time with the team and helped lead the franchise to two Finals appearances and could be on the verge of another title for the team if he can get the best of Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
The Heat are three wins away from lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy for a fourth time, and despite being the underdog, they might be able to pull it off.
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