The Miami Heat were teetering on making the wrong kind of history but, in the end, they completed their unlikely run to the NBA Finals, where they’ll play the No. 1 seed Denver Nuggets.
On Monday, the Heat blew out the Celtics, 103-84, in Game 7 to become the first No. 8 seed in a full-length season to reach the NBA Finals (the 1999 Knicks made it in a lockout-shortened season).
Since 2006, the Heat have reached the Finals seven times, more than any NBA team in that span. It was an up-and-down regular season that nearly came to an end in the play-in tournament, but the Heat, led by Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra, have already executed one of the most improbable postseason turnarounds in league history.