Erik Spoelstra rallied his squad around him inside the Miami Heat locker room as the team reached the midpoint of the season's final stretch.
Spoelstra stood upon the NBA championship logo in the center of the floor.
They advanced to the Eastern Conference finals as the No. 1 seed in the previous season and the No. 8 seed in the current season.
The victory over New York, which was the resurgence of a playoff rivalry from the late 1990s and early 2000s, came in Game 6 of their East semifinal showdown on Friday night with a score of 96-92.
Bam Adebayo, a center with the Heat, described the story as "crazy." Many people wrote us off despite all of the season's highs and lows.
We weren't even supposed to advance past the opening round, and now we're in the Eastern Conference championship game. It merely demonstrates the tenacity and drive of this group.