Adversity in the NBA comes in many forms. For the last two seasons for the Miami Heat, it has been blood clot related health concerns for power forward Chris Bosh. And for Bosh it has become the frustration of feeling healthy, but not being allowed clearance by the team’s doctors. Which is a matter that will be left alone until the players union gets involved, as requested.

As if that were not enough, two slips on the court almost jeopardized the knees of Hassan Whiteside and Dwyane Wade while a Kyle Lowry buzzer-beater that should not have counted — because he stepped out of bounds — capped off a 12-4 run that sent Game 1 into overtime.

All of those negatives are usually traits that lead to the Heat unraveling. However, no matter how hard they tried to fall apart against the Toronto Raptors, they just could not do it. Not after Wade said he “needed a minute” to gather himself after realizing the game was heading to an extra five minutes. And not after a dress-suited Bosh gave the team a “this is not over” type of speech from the bench.

Is that sort of surprising? Yes. But is it enough to have fans completely shocked? It shouldn’t be.

A year ago, the mere mention of injuries would have rocked the Heat. But this season it seemed to ramp a bit of the intensity up, despite allowing a few comebacks. Just look at the way the loss of Bosh and Tyler Johnson was combated by fitting Luol Deng into a new position, unlocking the talents of Josh Richardson and the signing of Joe Johnson — as well as encouraging a speed closer to Goran Dragic’s liking. All of this resulted in a higher scoring output and an 11-game over .500 win-loss percentage since losing Bosh at All-Star break.

If the Heat have it their way, being down 3-1 in the first round and almost blowing their opener in Toronto will be all of the adversity that they need for this postseason. But knowing this team, it’s likely they could never have it that way.