Another tip-top coaching job from Miami Heat head coach

It’s nice to give credit where credit is due, but don’t tell Erik Spoelstra that.

Since taking over the Miami Heat head coaching reigns when now team president Pat Riley resigned, Spoelstra has certainly earned the promotion with the National Basketball Association team after earlier years of assisting at practice, handling the videos, the director of scouting, and various other franchise chores.

Now, in his 12th season after Riley left no doubt of Spoelstra’s qualifications when he recommended him, Spoelstra, who will turn 50 on Nov. 1,.happily stood at center court with his Eastern Conference champions, was handed the trophy and then quickly turned and handed it to Jimmy Butler.

As Butler, who scored 22 points, took down a pair of rebounds, and handed out the team-high eight rebounds, glazed at the silver trophy, he smiled  and walked to the microphone as Spoelstra backed up and listened and watched following the 125-113 win over the Boston Celtics Sunday night that brought the conference title in six games and now lined up versus the top-seeded Los Lakers in the finals that begin Wednesday night..

It was the sixth final for the club that has won three NBA championships, and are the only NBA franchise with that many appearances in the last 15 years  And Sporelstra just passes the credit around after another splendid job with this, a fifth seed not usually seen in the finals, but he’s gotten this bunch there.

“I should reward everybody in the franchise,” Spoelstra said later after the trophy presentation, “This group, more than anything, they just love to compete, and from the players, to the coaches, to the front office that includes Coach Riley, and I thank them. Now we are in the finals against Coach Riley’s former team, and we face LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and company at the bubble.”

The bubble is where the NBA players, coaches and trainers hung out, while the restarted shortened season was played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in the area of Disney World.

And Miami, under Riley, is where James won his first NBA championship. The second came with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which is just a short ride from his hometown of Akron. Now he tries for number three, and as the favorite in his second season with the Lakers, who made it to the finals for the first time in a decade back when they won against the Celtics. It won the series in six games after winning the first two, losing the third, winning the fourth, and then winning the fifth and sixth games versus 3rd-seeded Boston.

Butler is in his initial season with the Heat, and when he arrived, he said he wanted to be part of the team’s next title run. A year later he has succeeded with a neat cast of players that include himself, Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Duncan Robinson, veteran Andre Igoudala, and rookie Tyler Herro. They all scored in double figures on this night. Adebayo had the team highs of 32 points and 14 rebounds, and dished out five assists.

Herro tallied 19 go with five boards and seven assists, Robinson and Igoudala turned in 15 points each, and Dragic scored 13.

Miami led 33-27 after one quarter, 62-61 at halftime, and after both teams tallied 26 points in quarter three, the Heat maintained its poise and outscored the Celts, 37-27, in the final quarter. It was outrebounded 42-40, had less steals, 7-6, had more turnovers, 12-10, were all even in blocks with two apiece, had more assists, 30-26, made good on 13 3s off of 27 attempts for a 48.1 percentage, while Boston tossed in 15-of-46 tries from 3-point range, a 32.6 percentage. Miami was 84.6 from the foul line, Boston 80.0, and the Heat 56.3 from the field against the Celtics’ 43.4.

“They earned it,” said Boston head coach Brad Stevens, who with Spoelstra, is one of the better, more respected head coaches and also a class guy who formally coached at Butler University, “they had excellent play off the bench, they never let up, and it was somebody stepping up each time to beat us. You know, Herro, Butler, Adbabayo, Robinson, Dragic, and Igoudala. Did I forget anyone, oh yeah, the head coach.”

Boston also had six players in twin figures, with Jaylen Brown turning in the team highs of 26 points and eight boards to go with four assists. Jason Tatum added 24 points, seven rebounds and the team-high 11 assists. Marcus Smart contributed 20 points and eight rebounds, Charlie Theis scrubbed the boards for seven rebounds, Kemba Walker tallied 20, and Gordon Hayward put in a dozen points after coming off the injury list to play some in this series.

The Celtics are the younger team, but not by much. Reserve center Dwight Howard has been in the pros 11 years, but Tatum, Brown, Walker, Smart, Hayward and Charlie Theis, have been around a few short years.

EXTRA POINTS — The 6-foot-2 Spoelstra was born in Evansville, Ill., played high school basketball as a point guard, made first team All-District, and at University of Portland, was named Freshman of the Year in the West Coast Conference, and a member of the 1,000-point scoring club. His dad, Jon Spoelstra, was an executive with the NBA’s Buffalo Bills, the then-New Jersey Nets, the Portland Trailblazers, and the Niuggets.

Erik is the first of Filipino descent, the initial Asian-American head coach in the history of the four major North American Sports Leagues. His mother is from the Philippines. He married his long-time girl friend, Nikki Sapp, a former Miami Heat dancer, in June of 2016.