Heat's 'process' should worry opposing clubs

MIAMI -- Erik Spoelstra said the word so many times this year it inevitably seemed as if it shouldn't be taken seriously.

"Process."

The word was so abundant it had to be a linguistic life raft for a floundering club. Or a buzzword for boom times by a buttoned-down organization set on saying as little as possible. Or a crutch for a young head coach feeling his way through a historically pressure-packed season.

"It's a process."

Spoelstra said it so often, it made writers laugh, made us set over/unders for how many times he'd say "process" after a game. It made this writer roll his eyes time and again. I'd bet money that, early on, more than a few Heat players did, too.

"No one said this process was going to be easy."

Spoelstra turned to "process" the way The Dude turned to white Russians. He said "process" so often it seemed like AmericanAirlines Arena was going to be ground zero for the birth of a legendary South Beach drinking game.

This loss or that loss was part of the process. This win or that win was part of the process. The process was why LeBron James struggled at the four, why the Heat had just lost a game it shouldn't, why Bosh wasn't rebounding enough, on and on it went, the process this, the process that.

In Spoelstra's mind, the process seemed to explain every up and down, all the good and bad, the response to every bit of ridicule and love -- every damn moment -- of this crazy Miami Heat season.

It all seemed like a lot of mumbo jumbo from an otherwise likable and impressive NBA head coach.

Until Monday. Until the Heat walked onto the floor and proceeded to slaughter the Philadelphia 76ers, 94-73.

Until the process seemed like something that maybe, just maybe, had in fact been happening all along.

Suddenly, and in looking back over the past month of excellence that has set the Heat on its way in these playoffs, the process doesn't seem like a load of crap.

It seems like another way to talk about a journey for a team tackling something vastly more difficult and different than anyone imagined -- most certainly including the Heat.

Maybe the process should fill Heat fans with optimism and opposing clubs with real worry.

Because the process looks a lot like this:

Like LeBron James able to slide right into the four without complaint, hiccup or setback. (Remember LeBron rebounding and posting well too infrequently? I do.) Like LeBron notching 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists in Monday's win with an ease and connection to his teammates that weren't always there. Like the self-celebrated Chosen One choosing to listen to a head coach with whom, early on, he seemed very much not to.

The process kind of looks like Dwyane Wade not only knowing how to share the spotlight with LeBron but also knowing how to deflect some of its glare (certainly true during Saturday's fourth-quarter crunch time).

For Wade, the process also looks like Monday's Game 2, in which he scored 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting and set an early tone of domination despite being addled by a migraine that made him a game-time decision.

The process absolutely looks like Chris Bosh transformed from his shrinking, fearful November incarnation into a guy for whom this stat line is the new norm: 21 points, 11 rebounds. And unseen in the numbers: aggression, confidence, fearlessness.

The process is the bench suddenly providing real help when necessary, whether it's James Jones hitting big shots, Mario Chalmers giving important minutes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas making himself felt or Joel Anthony giving so much fans actually chant "MVP!" when he shoots free throws.

There's more, of course. There's the relentless defense becoming better by the day, prompting Bosh to say Monday, "We've had good defensive performances but I have to say I think today was so far our best of the season."

Which, perhaps thanks to the process, it was.

There's its attacking nature and the ease with which this team suddenly sits in its own skin. There's the confidence that earlier this season had been arrogance and, before and after that, fear.

This team has gone from shrinking from the world's hate to embracing it to seeming wholly immune.

The process means the Big Three has earned its moniker.

Here's what the process doesn't mean: It doesn't mean a Heat championship is now assured. Nor that its dynasty is surely at hand.

The Eastern Conference, and the league as a whole, is too good for that.

Boston is an injured but dangerous animal that bares its fangs with unusual hostility against Miami. The Chicago Bulls are a dynamic and efficient winning machine powered by the Heat's Achilles' heel – a transcendent point guard.

No, Spoelstra's process doesn't mean the prize is at hand. The process means the prize is in reach. That, truly, is more than could be said at many stretches of this long and daunting season.

Bosh needs to remain this new, better version of himself. Wade needs to be able to close out close games despite trying to make room for LeBron on the court. LeBron needs to continue be incredible, to play whatever position his coach needs, to face adversity with the same calm that has marked the last few months (and that he lacked the first few). LeBron, more than anyone, needs to remain altered, matured, eased and enabled by the process.

And the bench must keep doing what it's been doing. And the Heat's defense has to be so good that a frustrated head coach like Doug Collins mutters afterward, "Let's give it to them guys, they're a terrific defensive team."

All of that has to happen. And then, even if all of it does, we'll see if that means the process turned the Heat into a team capable of running through series against teams like Boston, Chicago and whatever force emerges from the West.

One thing was sure Monday. The process has turned a floundering team (October and November) into a good-but-surprisingly-incomplete team (December and January) into a Jekyll to Hyde group and back (February and March) into, now, a force to be feared.

Because they are complete. Because each of the Big Three has grown in some individual way without growing apart from the others. So have their teammates.

"I thought we played as close to 48 minutes of a complete game as we have all year," LeBron said.

Yes, on Monday the process didn't seem so funny anymore. No bets were taken on how many times Spoelstra would say it following his team's best game of the season. No eyes prepared to be rolled. The word -- I would wager Spoelstra has said "process" 4,000 times this season, and I've heard a good share of them -- would have sounded fresh for the first time since October had the head coach uttered it.

He didn't.

He didn't have to.

The process was as self-apparent as it's been all year.

Because, with Miami now boasting a 2-0 series lead to start its playoff run, Heat fans can feel free to hope as much as they have since those halcyon days before the season and its process began.

You can follow Bill Reiter on Twitter.