Courtesy of NBA
Under Spoelstra’s guidance, his team Miami Heat is headed back to the NBA Finals for the second time in four years.
For basketball fans, Miami Heat’s most recent victory is a win for Filipinos as Erik Spoelstra is headed back to the NBA finals. The Filipino-American head coach of the Miami Heat will head to the seven-game finals game against Western Conference winner Denver Nuggets after the team won the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston Celtics on Monday night, May 29.
The game is said to be a redemption for the Miami Heat, who made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals only to lose to the Celtics last year. Throughout the 2023 NBA playoffs, fans of the game considered their run an inspiring underdog story, with analysts predicting they are coming into each game at a disadvantage. Spoelstra and the entire team have proved them wrong each time by making their way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the post-game interview, Spoelstra shared how he would encapsulate the team’s journey to the NBA finals. “I think probably people can relate to this team. Life is hard. Professional sports is just kind of a reflection sometimes of life, that things don’t always go your way. And then the inevitable setbacks happen, and it’s how you deal with that collectively. There’s a lot of different ways that it can go,” Spoelstra said. “It can sap your spirit, and it can take your team down for whatever reason. But this group, it steeled us and made us closer, made us tougher, and these are lessons that hopefully we can pass on to our children, that you can develop this fortitude, and sometimes you have to suffer for the things that you want.”
This is the second time in four years that Spoelstra is heading to the NBA finals as the head coach of the Heat, with the team making it to the finals in 2020. The coach has made it to the finals six times total throughout his entire career. Spoelstra is only the seventh coach in NBA history to have that many appearances at the finals.
Spoelstra, whose father is Dutch-Irish-American and whose mother is a Filipina hailing from San Pablo, Laguna, is the first Filipino to become the head coach of an NBA team after taking the helm from Pat Riley. The former Miami Heat head coach personally handpicked Spoelstra to take his place when he stepped down in 2008.
In a 2022 interview, Spoelstra confirmed that he will be returning to the Philippines to coach Team USA at the FIBA World Cup 2023, which the country will be hosting in August.
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