The Miami Heat are set to participate in the Play-In tournament for the third consecutive season, two years after appearing in the NBA Finals.
There are two reasons for this sharp drop in expectations: health and the inability to maintain depth.
Always, Bleacher Report admits it’s impossible to completely rule out the Heat, labeling them as a wild-card championship contender.
“Because Heat Culture. Are we done here?” wrote B/R’s Grant Hughes. “OK, maybe we need a little more justification than that. But it’s not the worst idea to blindly trust Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and whatever toughness-injecting, late-season grit-boosting serum the Heat dispenses in their post-practice smoothies.”
As Heat legend Udonis Haslem recently noted, coach Erik Spoelstra thrives with his back against the wall. Even if the Heat are once again plagued by injuries, Spoelstra and his teammates will find a way to sneak into the playoffs. If the Heat’s run to the 2023 Finals proves anything, most teams will be hoping to avoid them early in the playoffs.
“These guys have a history of defying the odds and beating absolutely anyone in a playoff series,” Hughes wrote. “Picking them for their overachievement has always been a smart move.”
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Anthony Pasciolla works as a contributing writer for Miami Heat On SI. You can contact him at [email protected] or follow him on X @AnthonyPasci.
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