Against seemingly all odds, the Miami Heat are back in the NBA Finals for the second time in the last four seasons.
One of the big reasons they have managed to make it this far twice in the last four years is their ability to find diamonds in the rough.
Everyone knows that Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Tyler Herro (who has been out for most of the playoffs with a hand injury) are their main men, but their role players have also been of the utmost importance.
Several of their role players went undrafted, and one of them is forward Caleb Martin.
Although he has done well in the regular season the past two years for Miami, he has taken things to a higher level in the playoffs.
Caleb Martin this season vs playoffs:
9.6 PPG ➡️ 14.1 PPG
1.2 3PM ➡️ 2.2 3PM
46.4 FG% ➡️ 56.6 FG%
35.6 3P% ➡️ 43.8 3P%Postseason MIP. pic.twitter.com/mO1CLG0r71
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 31, 2023
Martin played his college ball at both North Carolina State University and the University of Nevada, and at the latter he started to show potential as a scorer.
His first two NBA seasons, which were spent with the Charlotte Hornets, were unproductive, but there is something about the Heat’s culture that seems to allow underdogs such as Martin to blossom.
In the team’s seemingly improbable seven-game victory over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, Martin was a big reason why they emerged victorious.
He scored 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting in their Game 2 win that gave them a stranglehold on the series, and after Boston took three in a row to force a Game 7, Martin again shot 11-of-16 from the field to deliver the Heat a blowout win to take the series.
If the Heat are to win it all against the Denver Nuggets, look for Martin to come up big again.
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