Q: Ira, the only path to playoff success will be the one taken last year, a significant run from the play-ins. I’m glad they sat Bam Adebayo in Cleveland. They should hold everyone off until they’re 100%, then go for it like last year. –Steve.
A: But it’s not going like last year. First, the Heat had two home games to win one in the play-in round last year, first losing at Kaseya Center to the Hawks and then beating the Bulls there. If the Heat end up at No. 8, that would mean a road game to open the play-in round, likely at either Indiana or Philadelphia. Plus, last year there wasn’t a runaway team in the East in first place, with all due respect to last season’s Bucks. This season, Boston sits a tier apart at No. 1, and that would be the playoff mission for the No. 8 seed, where the Heat landed last year. Lightning in a bottle is hard enough to capture. Lightning in a bottle striking twice seems more unlikely. The Heat need bodies, even if they’re not 100%. This is a most perilous time, arguably more perilous than last year at this point.
Q: It feels like it’s that time of year for three seasons. The Heat can’t stay healthy. Player unavailability has been a problem for a few seasons now. –Luis.
A: Okay. And at some point, players deserve to be injury prone. But the problem, typical of many teams, worsens when players are also kept aside for load management or stand on their own. This is especially a problem with players in their 30s, of which the Heat have and have had plenty. While Tyler Herro’s absence hurts, so does proactively introducing older players as acts of prevention. Think about it, in the third game of the season, the Heat indicated that Jimmy Butler was out due to “rest.” And that’s how it all began. And so on.
Q: Backs are scary. I don’t know how this could be medically possible, going from the seriousness of Duncan Robinson leaving a road trip and seeing a specialist to playing in one day. or two. -Bryan.
A: That’s why I wouldn’t put much stock in Erik Spoelstra saying Duncan Robinson’s status is daily. That’s what the coaches say. The Heat didn’t just need Duncan, they needed the best in Duncan. He’s the Heat’s spacing guy. Unlike Bam Adebayo and his old number, the Heat sent Duncan home. That means something.
