For almost any native Miami citizen, the NBA Eastern conference has been a nail-biter with the Miami Heat climbing up the Eastern bracket with all their might. But will that be enough?

For those who don’t know, the NBA playoffs represent the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league’s champion.  Separated by two conferences, Eastern and Western, the playoffs are an annual best-of-seven elimination tournament. Teams play against the same team seven times against three different teams to determine the one that plays against the winner of the other conference.

This year the Miami Heat is looking very well to play against either the Mavericks or the Warriors depending on if they beat the Boston Celtics who are tied with the Heat 2-2.

The games against the Celtics have been a real rollercoaster of emotions with the first game being won 118-107, the second a loss at 102-127, the third a win at 109-103, and the fourth another loss for 102-82. Viewers now await for game 5 May 25 at 8:30 pm.

“This is part of the playoffs; there are these extreme highs and lows,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve proven that we can find solutions offensively in a lot of different ways.”

Spoelstra is speaking the truth. The Heat have shown throughout the season they can manage adversity. They were walloped by injuries and constantly changing lineups, yet in the end still had the No. 1 seed in the East.

The Heat are hurting at the moment, and they look like they’re going to need some help to take two out of the three games left to reach the Finals.

Three of their most important offensive players are dealing with bothersome injuries. Tyler Herro, the Sixth Man of the Year, missed Game 4 because of a groin injury and is having trouble running without pain. Jimmy Butler is playing through inflammation in his right knee and looked to have issues getting lift and separation, and shot just 3-of-14.

There is just one day’s rest between games in the conference finals — it has long been such for television purposes, the effect of the quality of play notwithstanding — and three hours of flying on the off days. The injuries don’t have much time to heal.

“We are not making any excuse,” the coach said. “We can do it in the mud. We can win it ugly. We can win it when the floodgates come open hitting 3s. We can do it with Jimmy taking over a game. We can do it when he’s facilitating. We have the mental fortitude and the collective toughness to be able to embrace what we have. It’s just a very competitive, good series.”

On Wednesday night, the sweat and tears that are truly put into the game will be in the spotlight for all to see. Viewers await the spirit and cold hard power of the team to take over the ball and bring Miami more pride than they already hold.