The Miami Heat led by Jimmy Butler have had an unbelievable playoff run. They trounced the first seed Milwaukee Bucks who had super star Giannis Antetokounmpo among other strong players. The Heat barely made it to the playoffs with a mediocre regular season record of 44 wins to 38 losses. They lost against the Atlanta Hawks for the number 7 seed in the playoff bracket. The Heat then had to fight for the eighth seed and won. They are the second ever 8th seed team to make it to the conference finals.

But where is this sudden surge coming from? Beating the first seed team and then the Knicks were ridiculous enough, yet add that to an average regular season performance, and the results are frankly, mind-boggling.

Heat coaches, players, and newspapers such as The Miami Herald refer to it as “Heat culture.”

So, just what is meant by “Heat culture.” It means that the Heat strive relentlessly to be the hardest working team on the court, and it shows. In one game against Milwaukee, Jimmy Butler scored 56 points literally placing the team on his back, and then again in the game against the Boston Celtics, the Heat returned triumphantly from a 15-point deficit to out score the Celtics 46-25 in the third quarter, propelling them toward crucial win in Boston which completely rattled the Beantown team, and not to mention, its fans.

But what do some of ILS’s net heads thinks about the Heat team?

“I think they are playing excellent defense, and Jimmy Butler is stepping up and taking over games and the bench players are carrying their weight and if they keep this up they can win it all,” said junior Adryan Mendoza.

I went to game three and saw first hand just how good the Heat are. The stadium was in a white out where everyone was wearing a white shirt and there were towels that said Beat Boston. That was my first hint as to what to attitude of this game was going to be. Then in the first quarter the Heat dancers come out, which is unusual because they usually come  out in the second quarter. They usually dance to techno songs  that are fast and confusing to understand the lyrics, but that wasn’t the case here. The dancers opened to Motley Crue’s “Kickstart My Heart”. Which, for those of you who don’t listen to  Motley Crue,  it has a fast tempo with pounding drums and and insane guitar riffs. That’s how I knew the Heat were out for blood and they showed it. They blew the Celtics out of the water.

“The Miami Heat have had a great playoff run and they’ve proven that no matter the odds, there’s always a chance,” said junior Owen Brisbane.

The Heat may be the league underdogs for now, but given their energetic performances, they stand to make everyone regret ever having counted them out.