MIAMI — As the Heat prepared for their Eastern Conference finals showdown with the Boston Celtics, news filtered into the Kaseya Center that the Philadelphia 76ers fired legendary coach Doc Rivers following their loss to the Celtics in Game 7 of the conference semifinals on Sunday.

“It’s disturbing,” Spoelstra said Tuesday. “Doc’s a Hall of Famer. … You get past the first round, there’s going to be some really good teams. Great players, great organizations, great coaching staffs that are going to lose. It’s part of the nature of this beast. There’s only so many teams that can advance. It’s just a really hard thing to do. It’s been a tough couple weeks, hearing the news of some really surprising firings.”

Rivers’ dismissal and Spoelstra’s comments came just 24 hours after the veteran Heat coach lamented other “great, proven, experienced coaches that have lost their jobs already.”

Rivers joined the extensive list of successful coaches let go this offseason. Toronto fired Nick Nurse, who led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA championship and was the 2020 NBA Coach of the Year. Phoenix fired Monty Williams, who was the 2022 NBA Coach of the Year after leading the team to a franchise-record 64 wins. And Milwaukee fired Mike Budenholzer, a two-time coach of the year who led the Bucks to the 2019 championship, after the Heat dispatched them in the first round of the postseason.

“I don’t know if it’s crazy,” said Lowry, who played for Nurse in Toronto. “I think it’s just the business of basketball. And I think that’s one thing about our business is sometimes it gets a little cutthroat. I think organizations make decisions, what they feel as best. As players, we’ve just got to go and roll with the punches. At the end of the day, we understand that this is a business. Whatever happens, happens. But having stability definitely helps.”

Keeping emotions in check

The Heat have no shortage of experienced players on their roster, and nearly everyone has played in conference finals before.

Miami returned most of its roster from last year’s team, which lost to the Celtics in seven games in last year’s edition of the rivalry. Several of this year’s key players were on the team for the Heat’s last run to the 2020 NBA Finals, where they fell to the Lakers in the NBA’s COVID-19 bubble.

“We’ve been here before,” Adebayo said. “We know what it takes to get to the finals.”

Two key newcomers, Kevin Love and Cody Zeller, have different levels of playoff experience. Zeller reached the postseason twice with the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets but never advanced past the first round. Love, however, won a title with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and reached the NBA Finals in 2017 and 2018.

“But I do think having that experience and having been there before,” Love said. “The first time … there’s a level of stress and maybe you get anxious. Maybe you see the Eastern Conference finals logo, the finals logo, you start thinking about wanting to perform so well. But I think you have a moment to take a breath, especially having gone through it, and saying ‘OK, I’ve been here before. I know there’s going to be ups and downs. I know there’s going to be ebbs and flows.’ Just have to go out there and do whatever you can to get the job done.”

Lowry, who won a championship with the Raptors in 2019, said the key for reaching this point in this postseason is staying level-headed.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about staying level,” Lowry said. “Things are going to happen or things are going to go your way or things aren’t going to go your way. You’ve got to make sure that you’re ready to be a professional and bounce back or bounce forward or adapt and adjust.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.