Miami Heat
fromAll U Can Heat
1 week agoHeat debut new mantra for do-or-die Play-In Tournament opportunity
Miami Heat must treat every game as a Game 7 to secure a playoff spot.
I just felt that, for all the storybook narratives, all that stuff - we're trying to win the World Series, and I'm going to go with people that I feel can handle the moment. And part of the moment is potentially failing. And I understand what it would have looked like for me to make that decision for Clayton, this being his last year, all that stuff. But it's like, I'm still not going to run from potential failure.
Let's think of some examples using these defining characteristics. Game 7 of the 2013 first round series between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs has a lot of the aforementioned characteristics. We see the miraculous comeback in the form of Boston erasing a 4-1 deficit in the final ten minutes of the game. The high stakes factor has an easy answer: whoever wins advances to play the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs.
Down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils, Messier publicly declared a Game 6 win. Though the Rangers at one point trailed 2-0, Messier scored a natural hat trick to force a seventh game. Less than three weeks later, he scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in Game 7 against the Vancouver Canucks, bringing the Rangers their first championship in 54 years.
I was fortunate to get my hands on a Game 7 ticket when they first went on sale. Admittedly, my faith wavered at points during the series, especially when the Toronto Blue Jays were down 2-0 and the debacle that was the eighth inning in Game 5. Thankfully, I held on to the ticket, and I can say that it was the best experience of my life. Here's what it felt like at the ball park.
The Caps took a huge step in the spring of 2018 when they finally bested their longtime rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the second round of the playoffs and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years. They were only halfway through their journey, though, and a very tough Tampa team awaited them in the ECF.
I clearly came here to try to win the ultimate prize. It is one game that gets you to move on, but I am clearly not satisfied with that game at all.