As NBA fans wait for a dramatic finish to a few of the first-round matchups in the league, it's worth looking back at a team not in the playoffs.

That's thanks to an illuminating piece on ESPN.com by its great feature writer Wright Thompson, who spent time over the past few months with Miami Heat President Pat Riley in south Florida.

The story is a great read, certainly worth your time, and a nice snapshot of an ultra-competitive man who doesn't know when to say when.

The former Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Heat coach, and current godfather of the Miami franchise, opens up about his supposed forthcoming retirement in Malibu (which may never happen), as as well as the pain and glory of the past.

Much of that is about the Big 3, and how LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade ushered in a new era of glory - and then pain - for Riley.

"I was silent," Riley told ESPN.com about LeBron leaving Miami for a return run with the Cleveland Cavaliers. "I didn't say anything. My mind began to just go. And it was over. I was very angry when LeBron left. It was personal for me. It just was. I had a very good friend who talked me off the ledge and kept me from going out there and saying something like Dan Gilbert. I'm glad I didn't do it."

Riley said he eventually came to understand why James left to go home, something the aging executive is himself unwilling to do yet.

"He went home because he had to go home," Riley said. "It was time. It was really time for him to go home, in his prime. If he's ever going to do anything in Akron again, this was the time to do it. Otherwise, he'd have a scarlet letter on his back the rest of his whole life."

Meanwhile, the story also talks about how Dwyane Wade talked on a podcast this year, revealing that Riley did not call him during the offseason, helping steer him out of Miami and back home to Chicago.

Riley said he wishes the money given to Bosh after LeBron left instead went to Wade.

It's among the regrets, both professional and personal, that Riley shares in the great story from Thompson.

Riley's wife, Chris, sums up a theme of the piece with this quote:

"He's good," Chris Riley said. "He's much better. He's clearly forgiven his father. That's the peace he's made. Now, whether he comes to peace with himself with that is another thing."