MIAMI — Typically, this would be an NBA showcase moment, the Golden State Warriors’ only visit of the season to the Kaseya Center. But little has been typical this season for the Warriors or Miami Heat.
Instead, Tuesday night comes a game with a different set of emotions, dominance replaced by despair.
For the Heat, the battle to avoid the play-in round continues. For the Warriors, it’s the fight to stay on the playing field, currently with a singular goal of . . . 10th place.
No, not quite what you would expect in a matchup between Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, with the Heat coming off a trip to the NBA Finals last season and the Warriors, NBA champions no later than 2022.
Sunday, as he explained how his team had performed since Friday night 111-88 home humiliation at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans has 121-84 Sunday night crushing of the Cleveland CavaliersHeat coach Erik Spoelstra noted how “humbling” the NBA can be.
For his injury-ravaged team, Spoelstra said it wasn’t a lack of habit, even with Friday’s tribulations.
“The one thing about this group is that they really care. Even after a night like the other night,” Spoelstra said, the Warriors’ third game of a four-game homestand that ends Friday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
“This is a team that cares deeply. There are so many guys that have personality – add me in there too – we’ve fought after bad performances, and we just can’t wait to get back out there and try to redeem ourselves. And that’s what I really admire about this group. The group cares. And even in some difficult times, it can bring some benefits.
A year ago, the Heat began the playoffs as a seventh-place team, only to end up with the East’s No. 8 seed in the play-in round. Now, with 11 games remaining, there is a scramble between the Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers to secure the No. 6 seed East and the final direct entry spot into the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs.
As with Spoelstra and 34-year-old Jimmy Butler, Warriors coach Steve Kerr found himself balancing these frenetic final three weeks of the season between securing the rankings and preparing his 30-something star. ‘years for a potential redemptive playoff run.
Curry, 36, appreciates the fine line.
“Every game counts,” he said following the Warriors’ 114-110 road loss Sunday to the Minnesota Timberwolves, when he was held up for part of the closeout by Kerr. “We’re getting closer on the other side of the game. In a ranking we never thought we’d be in. No one is going to wave the white flag and say we’re mailing it in. If that means playing more than minutes, I will be ready to do it.
The Heat won the first meeting of the two-game season series 114-102 on Dec. 28 at Chase Center, a night when Butler sat out with a calf strain, a night when Curry closed 3 of 15 from field. At this point, both teams were getting a bit of a measure.
Now the pace has given way to the unforeseen realities of the Heat-Warriors in the late March battle for Sowers’ survival.
Following Sunday’s loss to the short-handed Cavaliers, when the Heat shot .518 from the field and converted 15 3-pointers, Adebayo paused to understand that now is not the time to celebration.
“When it comes to the playoffs, these games don’t matter,” he said. “The game slows down, possession by possession and it starts to feel very different.
“Obviously, for me, it feels weird not making the playoffs, because it’s like I don’t know what to do with this summer. There is no such thing. The regular season and the playoffs are totally different.
Achieving this is the only goal for Tuesday, on both sides.
This makes Kerr look a lot like Spoelstra.
“We have to keep moving forward,” Kerr said.
