Reporter Israel Gutierrez interviews Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau during the 2023 NBA playoffs.

Ahead of Monday’s win-or-go-home matchup against the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals (8:30 ET, TNT), ESPN reporter Israel Gutierrez gave his thoughts on this year’s Miami Heat team, Heat squads from the past and more while discussing his new podcast “Four Years of Heat”.

“Four Years of Heat” is an eight-episode podcast series, covering the four-season run LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh played together in South Florida. The first episode dropped on May 23, with new episodes coming out every Tuesday. You can listen to it on the iHeartRadio app. Gutierrez will recount his own first-hand experiences covering the “Big 3” as they were affectionately known, highlighted by these moments:

• 2010: “The Decision.” James had an ESPN special where he told the world he was signing with the Miami Heat.

• 2011: Lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 4-2, in the NBA Finals.

• 2012: Defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 4-1, in the NBA Finals.

• 2013: Defeated the San Antonio Spurs 4-3 in the NBA Finals.

• 2014: Loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. James left the Heat in free agency and opted to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, his first NBA team (2003-10).

The podcast aligns with the 10-year anniversary of the Heat’s Finals victory against the Spurs where Ray Allen made one of the most clutch shots in NBA playoff history to tie Game 6, force overtime and keep Miami’s consecutive title hopes alive.

“I believe I was in section 102 of the American Airlines Arena at the time,” Gutierrez said. “And I remember being sort of trapped because it’s not seating where you can get in and out of easily. And so, I was like, ‘Well, I’m watching all of this from right here.”

The Spurs were up 3-2 in the series and held a 3-point lead. In the closing seconds of regulation, James missed a 3-pointer, Bosh grabbed the rebound and found Allen in the corner. The sharpshooter drained the game-tying triple with five seconds left and the Heat went on to win the game in overtime and the series in seven games.

Prior to that bucket, workers were setting up for the championship trophy presentation for the Spurs.

“One of the things you didn’t really notice until afterward is there’s no Tim Duncan in the game,” Gutierrez said. “And so as you watch LeBron put up that shot — [and] I feel like it was very calculated from LeBron to basically take on two defenders in that spot — Tony Parker was getting screened and he was trying to fight over it, and then Boris Diaw was trying to fight over it on the other side. I think LeBron knew ‘hey, these two guys are committed to me on this jumper. Hopefully, we can get that offensive rebound.’

“And what you saw was Chris Bosh, just coast through the lane, and go up and grab it over Manu Ginobili. When he kicked it out — I know people say this stuff all the time — it felt like slow motion. It’s the perfect situation for him. There’s probably nobody better you’d want to kick it out to for a shot to save your season, to save your legacy. And it just so happened just that way. Then the place exploded.”

When the ball left Allen’s hand, there was no doubt it was going in. But the game wasn’t over yet.

“It was crazy. And it was crazy for everybody,” Gutierrez said. “(Spurs coach) Gregg Popovich was running up the sideline upset because they stopped the play, because he wanted his team to go quickly and catch the Heat off guard. And so, it was a lot of chaos going on. And then as they’re reviewing it, the place is just buzzing. When they announced the results of the review, it was just another quick cheer and then it was right back to the action. And it was a very stressful 5.2 seconds in that place after Ray hit that shot.

“It just felt like there was no question that the Heat were going to win the game. You go into overtime, you’re not going to lose that game. And then you go into Game 7, and you’re certainly not going to lose that one. So, it was just one of those feelings where you knew you were watching history.”

Wade, Bosh and LeBron led the Heat to four Finals and won two championships in their four seasons together. Gutierrez reflects on the team’s accomplishments and whether this trio that earned so much hype when they joined forces lived up to expectations.

“There weren’t ready to win that championship that first year together,” Gutierrez said. “It is difficult to put a team of that caliber together. I think that the most notable things from that first season were LeBron James just kind of deferring to Dwyane Wade more often than he would when he was in Cleveland, and Erik Spoelstra kind of not wanting to step on any toes.”

Four Years of Heat hosted by @IzGutierrez.

Revisit the Big 3 era @MiamiHeat w/ exclusive interviews from @DJKhaled, @LeBatardShow, @JimGrayOfficial, @Rachel__Nichols, @ThisIsUD, Ray Allen & more! @NBA @KingJames @DwyaneWade @ChrisBosh

Listen here – https://t.co/pM3fcqbTHW pic.twitter.com/huVXZhSKBI

— iHeartPodcasts (@iHeartPodcasts) May 24, 2023

So, although they were successful, Year 1 together was more about showing just how good the team could be.

“That offseason was the most important in LeBron’s career,” Gutierrez said “Because he went from everybody questioning him saying he’s shrinking in the spotlight to just changing everything just taking control. Like we thought he took control of his career with “The Decision,” [but] he really took control of his career that offseason going into the 2011-12 season.

“Because he changed, he improved his game. He worked in that midpost so that you know what, you can’t ever stop me with a smaller player in the paint again. He made the most improvement throughout his entire career that offseason.”

And although Wade was still an alpha male, he allowed LeBron to play a bigger role in Year 2.

“Dwyane Wade was able to say, ‘Hey, LeBron, you need to take over this team, it’s yours. Don’t worry about me, I’ll fill in wherever necessary. But this is your team’,” Gutierrez said. “And that was something that wasn’t very clear the first year, not at all, frankly. And so, once that happened, once LeBron had the more refined game, they were just ready.

“And, you know, in the process while he was learning how to win, LeBron got Miami a couple championships [and] helped to make them the premier organization in the Eastern Conference over the last 20 years. He did amazing things for this city, and this organization. And it’s funny because when people think about his career you’re gonna talk about Cleveland more, and you’re gonna talk about a lot about L.A. because it’s L.A. Those four years were everything to LeBron.”

While the “Four Years of Heat” podcast will be Miami-centric, Gutierrez believes there is a much bigger audience that will connect with the stories and enjoy the ride re-living this era of Heat basketball.

“There’s different levels of Heat fan, right? There are ones who are diehard and probably know many of these details, you know, maybe 99 percent of them,” Gutierrez said. “But for them, I’d say, there are probably a few things you’re going to learn that you didn’t know as well. And then for different levels of Heat standards, because there’ll be a ton of great stuff in there, good memories, good conversations. But then it’s also just not limited to Heat fans, because there’s a lot of San Antonio Spurs content and there’s just a lot of Dallas Mavericks content in there. There’s obviously a lot of LeBron content.

“And LeBron, you know, stretches beyond just a Heat team. There are fans of his in Cleveland and Los Angeles. There’s a lot of Pacers content as well. Even if you’re not a Heat fan [there’s] just a lot of respected voices and fun [voices] like DJ Khaled — he’s a Miami superfan. But yeah, just trying to really get across the field for a team that took Miami as a sports town and just elevated it to one of the elites, if you will.”

Heat fans have enjoyed an against-all-odd playoff run in 2023 as Miami sits just one win away from returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2020. Miami endured a tumultuous regular season, and survived of the AT&T Play-In Tournament to earn the No. 8 seed. From there, it ousted the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in five games, beat their long-time rival New York Knicks in six games, and took a 3-0 lead on the Celtics in the East Finals before losing three straight to set up a pivotal Game 7 in a season that has had a bit of everything in what makes up the long ballyhooed “Heat Culture.”

The “Four Years of Heat” chronicles the “Big 3” dynasty in Miami

“Spoelstra will tell you that they were very close all season long, we just didn’t see it,” said Gutierrez about Miami’s impressive playoff run. “I think the one benefit that they did get all season long — though from not being great — is having so many close games, which is learning what it took to pull those games out.

“Anytime Jimmy Butler takes those stepbacks and those fadeaways in the regular season, it’s usually about a 20 percent proposition. But for some reason in the playoffs, he makes those shots even more consistently. And he doesn’t pass up a lot of shots, which he does a lot in the regular season. So no, there really wasn’t any sign that they’d be able to do this, especially without a ’20-point-a-game starter’ in the lineup.”

“Playoff Jimmy” has always been special, but with the exception of a game here and there, he hasn’t exceeded expectations this postseason.

“There were signs in the regular season where you could see this coming,” Gutierrez said. “You could just kind of tell in the bigger moments when he is assertive, aggressive, knowing that his team needs it. It’s just a different level of focus and a different level of execution out of him. Jimmy doesn’t show it off very often, but he’s a hell of an athlete. He doesn’t show off the athleticism, but in the postseason he does. And he’ll go up for a blocked shot, he’ll go up and try to finish over somebody even on occasion. And so yeah, I think there’s a different level of effort. Whereas the regular season, it’s more of trying to figure things out, he’s more calculated.”

As a longtime Heat reporter, Gutierrez saw Miami’s first title run in 2006, the “Big 3″ era that delivered two titles in the 2010s as well as this iteration of the team. To him, each title run has its own distinct flavor.

“Hypothetically [if] they do win the championship, it would be three entirely different types of championships,” Gutierrez said. “The first one was Dwyane Wade, and (Shaquille O’Neal). Not only do you have Shaq, sort of blessing the city, but the part about that championship that made the Heat fans feel so good as a wow, this Dwyane guy is amazing. And so that and being the first championship, it’s a feeling you’ll never feel again.”

The Heat fell behind 2-0 in that 2006 series before rallying to win it the NBA title in Game 6. A pressure to perform, Gutierrez said, marked some of the “Big 3″ title runs, but a different feeling is present as the 2023 Heat aim for a title of their own.

“The next pair were just the intensely pressurized championships. It was more like relief when they won it; it was fighting off the rest of the world,” Gutierrez said. “And then this one, and I don’t know if you want to call it better, but it’s an entirely different feeling, You’ve got an ultimate underdog where you’re playing with house money the entire time.

“It’s not supposed to get easier as you go down to playoffs, and all of a sudden, you know, they’ve got a big lead on the Celtics, and it’s just ‘what’s going on here?’ So, it’s an entirely different feeling. But I think in the end, where I land on it is none of them are better than the other.”