Two years ago, the Miami Heat were at the mercy of divine intervention.
Whereas teams at either end of the playoff seeding can usually coast through the end of the regular season, the Heat were in a thicket of a playoff race.
Leading into the final day of the 2015-16 NBA season, four teams in the Eastern Conference, three of which were in the Southeast Division, had 47 or 48 wins. And fortune would have it that two of those teams – the Heat and Boston Celtics – played as all four clawed for a higher playoff seed.