Heat set tone for drive to Finals in camp

MIAMI — Erik Spoelstra said he mentioned how daunting the task would be only once.

In September, when the Miami Heat assembled for training camp, Spoelstra addressed his team about furthering its championship legacy and how rare it is for a team to find its way to the NBA Finals in four consecutive seasons.

“We’ve never brought it up since then,” Spoelstra said.

It’ll get brought up now. The seed the Heat coach planted in the Bahamas at that training camp took root. The Heat is Finalsbound — for the fourth straight time.

The sputtering stretches of play in March and April, surrendering the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs to Indiana, winning 12 fewer games in this regular season than a year ago, they all seem moot and meaningless now.

The Heat has a chance at a third consecutive NBA title, with the Finals starting on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs.

“It’s amazing to make it to one Finals,” forward Shane Battier said. “To do it four times in a row for some of these guys, it’s a tremendous, tremendous accomplishment and it speaks volumes to the dedication, luck, and perseverance that you need to do it.”

Only six players appeared in the 2011 postseason, Miami’s first of the “Big 3” era and the last in which it lost a series. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Udonis Haslem are the holdovers.

Battier and Norris Cole arrived after the 2011 Finals loss. Ray Allen, Chris Andersen and Rashard Lewis — all playing huge roles these days for Miami — came after the first title run of this Heat era in 2012. The core of last season’s title team, with the exception of amnestied Mike Miller, was back to try it again this time around.

Even with all that talent, with that championship experience, Spoelstra knew a tone had to be immediately set when the season began.

“What I was really encouraged about was our attendance and commitment in training camp in the Bahamas,” Spoelstra said. “Right from there, and we communicated during the summer that, if we’re real about this, about how difficult that journey is, that you cannot shortcut, that we would show it immediately in training camp.”

They still are showing it.