Newbie: “Let me tell you about “Heat” Culture.
“First of all, when you come here you feel like you’ve been…chosen.
“You’ve been somewhere else where they felt that you didn’t have what they needed; they wanted ‘to go in a different direction”, or whatever. You’re not a star and never have been; you’re too old or too young without enough upside, or you’re a tweener or whatever. And all of a sudden you’re snatched from oblivion by this legendary operation. They, Coach Pat, Coach Spo, the best there is and ever was, choose you of all fucking people. It's like the Oracle in The Matrix, man. It must be true. They see something in you that your other teams and coaches didn’t see, maybe something you didn't even see in your own self. They think you can help them win as a team, not just any team, them, a team that competes for a championship every damn year.
"Then you walk into the locker room and meet your teammates and there's this thing in the air. There's like a secret. They give you sly glances out of the corner of their eye, smiling. I don't know, like 'He's here'. 'We always knew he'd be here.' You want to look around to see if LeBron walked in (laughter). But no, it's you. 'Me?' I said that when I first walked in, for real. And there ain't no LeBron in there or D-Wade or K.D. There's guys just like you. K-Love, Caleb, Terry, undrafted guys like Duncan, Haywood, and you're thinking 'Damn, did I walk into the right room? This the Y locker room?' (laughter). How they do this? How they make me and these guys into contenders?'
"Then there's the secret sauce. Nah, I ain't gettin' into the schemes and the particulars and all that. There is that but it's all part of the Culture. It's painted on the damn court. It's all over the arena. It's in the locker room. It’s the team, man. You don’t win or lose as an individual, you win as a team. Next man up. That’s the Culture. ”
And so last night, in its 57th game this Culture beat a very good team on the road by double digits with a starting lineup, its 30th different of the season, of,
Nasty
Brutish
Short
Flotsam
Jetsam
They won without Jimmy Butler, without Tyler Herro, without Terry Rozier, without Nikola Jovic, without Josh Richardson, Thomas Bryant, and Orlando Robinson.
But that didn't derail the Heat, who got plenty of contributions from unheralded players like Delon Wright, who scored 13 points in his Miami debut, and reserve Haywood Highsmith, who scored all 15 of his points in the first half.
They won with rookie Jaime Jaquez, Jr. playing 38' and scoring 26 points on 12/17 shooting and grabbing five rebounds and snagging three steals and still somehow finishing -5.
They won with Kevin Love scoring 19 points and nabbing seven rebounds in only 15'.
They won with "Heat" Culture.
“When you’re missing a guy like that [Butler], everybody has to step up. He’s such a big part of our team and missing him is something that we obviously feel. But no matter, we've still got to play a game. Guys have to step up...”-Jaime Jaquez, Jr.
This Y team has won four straight and eight of ten. They are now in the playoffs, however evanescently, in sixth place, only a game behind faltering Philadelphia, only 2.5 behind stumbling New York and playoff home court. They have a 32-25 (.561) record, which projects to only 46 wins, and somehow they will make a deep run in the playoffs again.
