Miami was just 9-8 after their first 17 games and Erik Spoelstra cites his team's survival of the month of November as the most important part of their regular season. The Heat went on to win 21 of 22 games.
“Once we survived November where all the noise was extreme, we were 9-8, we weren’t having the success that we wanted to and everybody realized, ‘OK, this is the world we are going to live in,’ ” Spoelstra said. “Now we’re getting to know each other under the circumstances and adversity. But it became extremely positive. It became an empowering motivational tool for our group.”