MIAMI — After everything went so wrong Sunday night, the Miami Heat now have five weeks to put things right.
Or else? Treachery.
With Sunday night’s stunning 110-108 loss to the Washington Wizardsthe Heat fell to eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
And it would hardly be a favored resting place on April 14, when the regular season ends.
If the season were to end as the standings currently stand, the Heat would play the first game of the play-in round on the road against Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam at the Indiana Pacers. Win this game and the Heat would be the No. 7 seed in the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs.
However, if you lose this game, the Heat, based on the current standings, would go home in a winner-take-all final play-in game against the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-Chicago Bulls game. Win this game and you will be ranked #8 against the #1 Boston Celtics. Lose this game and you’re in for the lottery.
So no, it’s not optimal.
“This is also why we love this profession. We like all the context and pressure at this time of year,” said coach Erik Spoelstra: with the Heat in the middle of a three-game losing streak. “And we didn’t handle our business in those three games. But I know there will be teams in the East that won’t do it either. And we don’t give them a choice. We’re just going to have to focus on ourselves.
“But it’s a challenging journey and our group has the right intentions.”
So yes, buckle up, with a schedule that resumes with Wednesday night’s rematch of the 2023 NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets, the Heat’s last home game before a four-game trip.
“All these games over time, that’s why I love this time of year, because every team goes through it,” Spoelstra said of the ever-changing face of the playoffs’ middle of the field. Eastern Conference. “And you feel like it’s only you who experiences something like that.” Everyone will have context, pressure and expectations on the matches throughout the sequence. And they make sense.
“It’s not like we have to talk about rankings. Everyone knows the rankings well, especially given the competitive nature of the group we have. But we can’t let ourselves be overwhelmed by everything either.
But you also can’t play as disappointingly as the Heat did on Sunday night, falling to an opponent who entered 10-53.
“This game is just humbling,” said forward Jimmy Butler. “And if you don’t have the right mindset, that’s what’s going to happen, that’s what’s going to continue to happen. There’s not much to say.
For now, the question is one of sustainability. During this three-game losing streak, the Heat blew leads of 15, 14 and 11 points against the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder and Wizards, respectively.
“We just have to keep the level of play going, man,” guard Terry Rozier said. “We have to have a way of playing and we have to go out there and do it all the way and maintain that throughout the game.
“We understand that this league has the best players in the world. But when we have a plan and we can execute it, we’re hard to beat. But in these last two games, it’s kind of like we’re moving away from our identity and who we are. So it’s difficult to win like that.
All or nothing
Down by two after committing an offensive foul against the Wizards with 12.2 seconds left, the Heat lost on Sunday when Duncan Robinson and then Butler attempted 3-point attempts.
Spoelstra, who had one timeout remaining, said it wasn’t about going for victory.
“No,” he replied, “not necessarily, just to get the right shot available. We were more than willing to take a timeout if necessary. And I thought we got two great looks.
But Butler had other ideas.
“I never aim for the tie,” he said, “ever.”
Butler closed 0-for-4 on 3-pointers against the Wizards and is 0-for-7 on 3-pointers in his last two games.
The Heat missed four 3-point attempts in the final 41.7 seconds on Sunday.
“I thought the last four 3-point looks we had, I thought all four were going downfield,” Spoelstra said.
