Heat not lamenting what might have been, also not assuming repeat play-in success
The point of no return came Sunday, when even after finishing two victories better than last season, the Miami Heat found themselves right back in the precarious position of the NBA play-in round.
MIAMI – The point of no return came Sunday, when even after finishing two victories better than last season, the Miami Heat found themselves right back in the precarious position of the NBA play-in round.
It could have been a moment of reflection, on both the ones that got away this season, as well as how the team emerged from last season’s play-in to advance to the 2023 NBA Finals.
But the Heat were having none of it, including coach Erik Spoelstra, when asked how as little as one more win could have gotten the Heat directly into the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs, instead of still needing a play-in victory for that opportunity.
“No,” he said firmly. “I’m not even thinking about that, at all. It doesn’t even make sense for me. We have to prepare for competition and a game on Wednesday and move on.”
As in when the Heat play the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center, with the winner moving on to the best-of-seven first round against the No. 2 seed New York Knicks.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Spoelstra said. “Look, this is the best time of year, these kind of environments, the games, the context, all of that. You can’t expect it to be easy, no matter what the scenario might be.”
Moments later, at his locker, Heat forward Jimmy Butler was asked about confidence having been built from last season’s play-in round.
He, too, had no interest in looking back.
“We’re not the same group as last year,” he said. “So we’ll leave that where it’s at and we’re moving forward with the group that we do have.
“But we, I, are very confident in the guys we do have and we know what we’re capable of.”
Spoelstra has expressed similar sentiment when it comes to the comparisons to last season, when the Heat closed the regular season 44-38, lost in the play-in opener to the Atlanta Hawks, but then won their win-or-go-home second-chance game against the Chicago Bulls.
The difference is both of those games came at home for the Heat. Now there is a Tuesday flight to Philadelphia, a potential overnight flight back to Miami, and then a possible last-chance game Friday night against the winner of Wednesday night’s Hawks-Bulls game.
If the Heat do need two games again for their required one play-in victory, it then would mean moving on to face the No. 1 seed Boston Celtics.
But as Butler noted, much has changed. Among those who participated in last season’s play-in games for the Heat were Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller and Kyle Lowry, who now is with the 76ers.
Added to the mix since that play-in experience have been Jaime Jaquez Jr., Terry Rozier, Delon Wright, Thomas Bryant and Patty Mills.
“The biggest takeaway from last year is just anything can happen,” said guard Tyler Herro, who started each of those play-in games last year before going down in the Heat’s opening-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks with a season-ending hand injury. “Obviously it’s not ideal to be in the seven or eight spot. But we’re here and that’s our reality.”
A reality both similar and different from last season.
“I know we’re going into this confident,” center Bam Adebayo said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs throughout this season, these past seasons, actually.”
So for Spoelstra, a fresh start in many senses.
“The playoffs always let you know,” he said. “We’re excited about it. You always think that we have a great opportunity in front of us.”
Play-in format
– The Heat (eighth place in the final Eastern Conference regular-season standings) play the Philadelphia 76ers (seventh place) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Wells Fargo Center.
– The winner of that game opens the best-of-seven first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Saturday at Madison Square Garden against the No. 2 seed New York Knicks, with a start time still to be determined.
– The loser of Heat-76ers then plays Friday night on their home court (for the Heat, Kaseya Center) against the winner of Wednesday night’s 9:30 p.m. game between the Chicago Bulls (ninth place) and Atlanta Hawks (10th place). The time for such a Friday night game has yet to be set.
– The winner of that Friday game then opens the best-of-seven first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Sunday at TD Garden against the No. 1 seed Boston Celtics, with a start time still to be determined.
– Should the Heat fail to win in either of their play-in chances (vs. 76ers or vs. winner of Bulls-Hawks) they then would be placed in the NBA draft lottery, with a random drawing that could leave them with as high as the No. 11 seed for that random-but-weighed process to determine the first four selections in the June 26 first round of the NBA draft (the Heat own their own 2024 first-round pick).