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Heat take life lessons from unexpected run to NBA Finals

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic of Serbia (L) shakes hands with Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra (R) following the Nuggets" win="" in="" Game="" of="" the="" NBA="" Finals="" at="" Ball="" Arena="" June="" John="" G.="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/06/13/061323_nba_den-x-mia_epa.jpg"/><figcaption>Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic of Serbia (L) shakes hands with Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra (R) following the Nuggets&#x27; win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, USA, 12 June 2023. <em>John G. Mabanglo, EPA-EFE</em>.</figcaption></figure></div><p><br/>DENVER -- Whether it was toughness through adversity or bonding the teammates, the Miami Heat took some life lessons from their unexpected run to the NBA Finals.</p><p>The Heat, only the second eighth seed in NBA history to reach the best-of-seven series, lost 94-89 at Denver on Monday to fall 4-1 in a disappointing end to a magical run as a play-in team.</p><p>&quot;I learned so much,&quot; Heat star Jimmy Butler said. &quot;I wish I could have got it done for these guys because they definitely deserve it. But the one thing I&#x27;m going to take from it is how grateful I am to be able to compete with them.&quot;</p><p>Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was able to shake off the disappointment to put Miami&#x27;s play-in win and elimination of NBA regular-season leader Milwaukee, New York and Boston in long-term perspective.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/13/23/nuggets-close-out-heat-in-thriller-to-clinch-nba-title">Nuggets close out Heat in thriller to clinch NBA title</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/multimedia/photo/06/13/23/winning-smile-for-denver-nuggets">Winning smile for Denver Nuggets</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Our guys will be able to take that quality the rest of their careers -- that grit, the perseverance, the toughness, the ability to compete and put yourself out there for everybody to judge and to be able to handle adversity,&quot; Spoelstra said.</p><p>&quot;Even though it&#x27;s sport, you can learn lessons of life from this game -- that you can persevere, you can handle what people may view as mini-failures along the way and become stronger from it and overcome things.&quot;</p><p>The Heat lost in the finals for the third time in 10 years but just reaching the championship series was a shocking feat.</p><p>&quot;We would have liked to be able to climb the mountaintop and be able to get that final win,&quot; Spoelstra said.</p><p>&quot;But I think this is a team that a lot of people can relate to, if you ever felt that you were dismissed or made to feel less than. We had a lot of people in our locker room that probably have had that, and there&#x27;s probably a lot of people out there that have felt that.</p><p>&quot;But also the way this team handled setbacks and adversity... hopefully these are lessons that will transcend this beautiful game, that we can pass along to our children.&quot;</p><div><strong>WATCH: </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sSPEQkiFWXA?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Willed our way through&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Miami&#x27;s Kyle Lowry, who won a title with Toronto, praised Butler and the special bond among teammates but was still hurting too much from his title dreams ending in heartache.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s a special bond with this group. We were led by one of the best basketball players on this earth, and he instilled confidence in us,&quot; Lowry said of Butler.</p><p>&quot;We don&#x27;t know how we&#x27;re going to feel right this moment, but we&#x27;ll look back at some point and say it was a great year, great run. But right now, just can&#x27;t even think about that.&quot;</p><p>Bam Adebayo, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds in defeat, said force of will had dragged Miami to the brink of the championship.</p><p>&quot;We willed our way through ups and downs. We willed our way through the things that people said we couldn&#x27;t do,&quot; Adebayo said. &quot;I just take these lessons and I apply them to the next season. Whenever we go through adversity, I&#x27;m always going to look back and be like, we&#x27;ve been through adversity before.&quot;</p><p>Butler said he was confident the Heat have what it takes to win an NBA crown.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;ve had some helluva teammates come through and compete with me and give us the opportunity to win a championship, which I still believe, with everything in me, that we will do,&quot; Butler said. &quot;Came up short, but I&#x27;m blessed. I&#x27;m fortunate.</p><p>&quot;I think we&#x27;ll be OK.&quot;</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

Whether it was toughness through adversity or bonding the teammates, the Miami Heat took some life lessons from their unexpected run to the NBA Finals.