In 2010, Dr. Jack Ramsay drew up a side-out-of-bounds play for Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, which Spoelstra then incorporated into the Heat's playbook. The Heat used the play in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals and ran it to perfection. Shane Battier led Dwyane Wade with a perfect bounce pass in the paint and Wade scored a layup off of his curling run. The field goal gave the Heat a 90-85 lead with 2:56 left in the game.
Ramsay used that same play while coaching the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA championship in 1977. The Heat calls the play "Ramsay."
"It’s a play that I’ve used from time to time after timeouts and we’ve affectionately called it 'Ramsay,'" Spoelstra said. "And it was one of the biggest plays in Game 7 last year coming out of a timeout."
Spoelstra, a native of Portland, was eight years old when he first met Ramsay. Spoelstra attended Ramsay's basketball camp each summer and developed his appreciation for physical fitness in large part because of Ramsay. Ramsay passed away on Monday. He was 89.
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