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PHILADELPHIA — So how exactly did we get here, the Miami Heat spending these final two weeks of the season not only having to accept the reality of a third consecutive trip to the play-in round, but for the first time likely having to start that trip from the bottom of the play-in round?
As with almost any NBA season, even with one now mired at the bottom of the standings, there are those select, collective moments in time that prove to be game-changers.
In the Heat’s case, six collective cases of season-changing swings, with 18 games in the balance, games that otherwise could have had the Heat in the thick of where they thought they would be, chasing homecourt advantage in the first round.
Instead, 0-18 in subplots that torpedoed the best-laid plans of Erik Spoelstra, Pat Riley and those who saw something far different as March turns to April.
The Detroit debacles (0-3): Yes, the Heat won the first of the series’ three meetings, the third game of the season.
But then the remainder of the season series against the Pistons, as much as against any other opponent, crystalized how everything that could go wrong would go wrong, while also showing the Pistons stepping up to playoff level.
First there was the 123-121 Nov. 2 overtime loss in Detroit, which came after Tyler Herro rallied the Heat back from a 10-point deficit with 3:21 to play in regulation in his 18-point fourth quarter. But then, with 1.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Spoelstra called a timeout he did not have, with a go-ahead Pistons free throw following to decide the game.
Then, in a game added to the schedule once the Heat were eliminated from the in-season tournament, it got even worse, when the Heat, having battled back from a 19-point deficit, blew an eight-point lead with 2:14 left in overtime to fall 125-124 Dec. 16 in Detroit.
From there, there was the 116-113 March 19 home loss, when Pistons guard Cade Cunningham banked in the winning 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds to play to close out the scoring.
The Sacramento screwups (0-2): For as much as it has been an up-and-down season for the Kings, their postseason hopes have received a pair of unlikely Heat boosts.
While the Heat blew a 15-point lead along the way in a 111-110 Nov. 4 home loss to the Kings, they nonetheless appeared to get the needed game-saving stop, when De’Aaron Fox was off on an 11-foot jumper with 3.6 seconds to play. Problem was, Kings center Domantas Sabonis grabbed the offensive rebound with 2 seconds to play and closed out the scoring with a putback basket with nine-tenths of a second left.
And then it got even worse against the Kings, when, from up 17 with 8:07 to play in regulation and up four with 1:45 remaining in the first overtime, the Heat stumbled their way to a 123-118 loss in Sacramento on Jan. 6.
The Butler burden (0-5): The abject indifference of Jimmy Butler in the wake of the Heat failing to offer an extension stood at the heart of at least five losses (with that a conservative estimate).
The Dec. 1 119-116 loss in Toronto offered a taste of what would follow, when Butler simply could not be bothered offering defensive deterrence on a night the Raptors’ R.J. Barrett worked unimpeded in the lane in a 37-point performance.
The situation grew even more curious when Butler appeared to turn an ankle 7:19 into the 104-97 Dec. 20 home loss to the Thunder, only to be listed out with an illness that Butler said forced him to miss the next five games, as well.
Then came the 128-115 Jan. 2 home loss to the Pacers, when Butler’s moping had him at -27 for the game in the nine-point performance that triggered the first of three unpaid team suspensions.
A game later, when the Heat announced a seven-game Butler suspension, it was as if the Heat were in a Butler-induced daze, falling 136-100 Jan. 4 to the Jazz.
And then there was the missed Jan. 22 team flight, which led to another Butler suspension, with the Heat the following night falling 125-96 in Milwaukee.
The fourth failures (0-2): In a season of fourth-quarter failure, a pair of losses still stand as practically unfathomable.
First there was the Dec. 21 121-114 loss in Orlando, when the Heat coughed up what stood as a 22-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter. How? By scoring eight points on 2-of-18 shooting over the final period.
As if to show that was no fluke, the Heat then lost 102-86 Feb. 7 in Brooklyn, blowing a 16-point lead. In that one, the Heat were outscored 31-9 in the fourth quarter, shooting 2 of 21 over that final period.
The streak stingers (0-4): Nothing reduced the Heat’s playoff hopes to play-in hopes more than the 10-game losing streak that was snapped Sunday, with four particularly crippling losses in that run.
The 10-game slide began with a 112-107 March 5 loss in Cleveland, which not only included the pain of blowing a 17-point lead, but also of having Duncan Robinson’s tying 3-pointer with 17.4 seconds remaining nullified when it was ruled he stopped out of bounds.
In a bid to regroup from that loss, the Heat instead fell 106-104 at home on March 7 to the Timberwolves when Spoelstra insisted Bam Adebayo was fouled on a 3-point attempt just before the final buzzer, with no whistle on the play.
The following night, the Heat blew another 17-point lead in a 114-109 March 8 home loss to the Chicago Bulls, squandering an eight-point lead with 8:47 to play.
It got worse two nights later, when the Heat fell 105-102 March 10 at home to the Hornets, again falling from a 17-point lead and, in that one, up 88-77 with 6:47 to play.
Letting go of the rope (0-2): Eventually all the losing took a toll to the degree that there seemed to be capitulation.
That led to consecutive blowout losses at the end of the 10-game slide, falling 125-91 March 15 in Memphis and then 116-95 March 17 in New York.
So when did it go so wrong to wind up at this stage of staring a No. 10 play-in seed in the mirror? The reality is … rather frequently.
CANDID VIEW: The reality is that for all his moping about the Heat’s trips to the play-in round the past two seasons, Jimmy Butler could yet be headed there now with the Golden State Warriors. During his team’s visit to Miami, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he appreciates the value of the added postseason layer, even if he would prefer direct entry to the playoffs. “It’s basically generated a playoff race within the playoff race, from the day it started,” Kerr said. “I haven’t loved it, because we’ve been on the wrong end of it. We’re 0-3 in these play-in games. So you finish in the top eight, you feel like you should be in the playoffs. On the other hand, it’s been great for the league. If you’re eighth and you’re seventh, well, you had 82 games to do better, and you didn’t do better and this is the new format. But it has been really effective in generating these races within the races and it’s kept a lot of teams in the hunt. I think in general, that’s a really good thing for the league.”
PRIME FOCUS: Among the Heat’s final fights of the season likely will be battling the Chicago Bulls for homecourt advantage in the Nos. 9-10 play-in opener. So how exactly did the Bulls give themselves a leg up in that race? “I feel like we’re the best conditioned team in the league,” Bulls rookie guard Matas Buzelis said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Guys get tired of playing us. I hear it all the time on the court. They’re like, ‘Man, y’all just keep running.’” The Bulls already have clinched the three-game season series, up 2-0 with the teams to meet in Chicago the final week of the season,
BACK AT IT: Yes, that is former Heat forward Cole Swider back in the NBA, signed to a 10-day contract by the Toronto Raptors and immediately injected into their rotation. Swider, who finished last season on a two-way contract with the Heat, began the season with the Detroit Pistons before being waived and returning to the G League with the Los Angeles Lakers’ affiliate, with whom he shot 42% on 3-pointers. His Toronto opening was created when the Raptors’ 10-day contract of former University of Florida Center Colin Castleton expired.
NEW VISTA: Among the latest with NBA ties to move into the collegiate NIL realm is former Heat scout Wes Wilcox, who has taken over as the general manager of the program at the University of Utah. Wilcox most recently has been serving as assistant general manager with the Kings. While serving as general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ G League team, Wilcox had hired current Utah coach Alex Jensen as his head coach in Canton.
26, 189. Years and days of Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young on Thursday night when, in the first quarter of his team’s loss to the Heat at Kaseya Center, he became the youngest player in NBA history to reach a combined 12,000 points and 4,500 assists, surpassing LeBron James‘ mark (27 years, 31 days). The points that gave him 12,000 came on a 17-foot jumper against Heat guard Pelle Larsson.
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As with almost any NBA season, even with one now mired at the bottom of the standings, there are those select, collective moments in time that prove to be game-changers.
In the Heat’s case, six collective cases of season-changing swings, with 18 games in the balance, games that otherwise could have had the Heat in the thick of where they thought they would be, chasing homecourt advantage in the first round.
Instead, 0-18 in subplots that torpedoed the best-laid plans of Erik Spoelstra, Pat Riley and those who saw something far different as March turns to April.
The Detroit debacles (0-3): Yes, the Heat won the first of the series’ three meetings, the third game of the season.
But then the remainder of the season series against the Pistons, as much as against any other opponent, crystalized how everything that could go wrong would go wrong, while also showing the Pistons stepping up to playoff level.
First there was the 123-121 Nov. 2 overtime loss in Detroit, which came after Tyler Herro rallied the Heat back from a 10-point deficit with 3:21 to play in regulation in his 18-point fourth quarter. But then, with 1.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Spoelstra called a timeout he did not have, with a go-ahead Pistons free throw following to decide the game.
Then, in a game added to the schedule once the Heat were eliminated from the in-season tournament, it got even worse, when the Heat, having battled back from a 19-point deficit, blew an eight-point lead with 2:14 left in overtime to fall 125-124 Dec. 16 in Detroit.
From there, there was the 116-113 March 19 home loss, when Pistons guard Cade Cunningham banked in the winning 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds to play to close out the scoring.
The Sacramento screwups (0-2): For as much as it has been an up-and-down season for the Kings, their postseason hopes have received a pair of unlikely Heat boosts.
While the Heat blew a 15-point lead along the way in a 111-110 Nov. 4 home loss to the Kings, they nonetheless appeared to get the needed game-saving stop, when De’Aaron Fox was off on an 11-foot jumper with 3.6 seconds to play. Problem was, Kings center Domantas Sabonis grabbed the offensive rebound with 2 seconds to play and closed out the scoring with a putback basket with nine-tenths of a second left.
And then it got even worse against the Kings, when, from up 17 with 8:07 to play in regulation and up four with 1:45 remaining in the first overtime, the Heat stumbled their way to a 123-118 loss in Sacramento on Jan. 6.
The Butler burden (0-5): The abject indifference of Jimmy Butler in the wake of the Heat failing to offer an extension stood at the heart of at least five losses (with that a conservative estimate).
The Dec. 1 119-116 loss in Toronto offered a taste of what would follow, when Butler simply could not be bothered offering defensive deterrence on a night the Raptors’ R.J. Barrett worked unimpeded in the lane in a 37-point performance.
The situation grew even more curious when Butler appeared to turn an ankle 7:19 into the 104-97 Dec. 20 home loss to the Thunder, only to be listed out with an illness that Butler said forced him to miss the next five games, as well.
Then came the 128-115 Jan. 2 home loss to the Pacers, when Butler’s moping had him at -27 for the game in the nine-point performance that triggered the first of three unpaid team suspensions.
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A game later, when the Heat announced a seven-game Butler suspension, it was as if the Heat were in a Butler-induced daze, falling 136-100 Jan. 4 to the Jazz.
And then there was the missed Jan. 22 team flight, which led to another Butler suspension, with the Heat the following night falling 125-96 in Milwaukee.
The fourth failures (0-2): In a season of fourth-quarter failure, a pair of losses still stand as practically unfathomable.
First there was the Dec. 21 121-114 loss in Orlando, when the Heat coughed up what stood as a 22-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter. How? By scoring eight points on 2-of-18 shooting over the final period.
As if to show that was no fluke, the Heat then lost 102-86 Feb. 7 in Brooklyn, blowing a 16-point lead. In that one, the Heat were outscored 31-9 in the fourth quarter, shooting 2 of 21 over that final period.
The streak stingers (0-4): Nothing reduced the Heat’s playoff hopes to play-in hopes more than the 10-game losing streak that was snapped Sunday, with four particularly crippling losses in that run.
The 10-game slide began with a 112-107 March 5 loss in Cleveland, which not only included the pain of blowing a 17-point lead, but also of having Duncan Robinson’s tying 3-pointer with 17.4 seconds remaining nullified when it was ruled he stopped out of bounds.
In a bid to regroup from that loss, the Heat instead fell 106-104 at home on March 7 to the Timberwolves when Spoelstra insisted Bam Adebayo was fouled on a 3-point attempt just before the final buzzer, with no whistle on the play.
The following night, the Heat blew another 17-point lead in a 114-109 March 8 home loss to the Chicago Bulls, squandering an eight-point lead with 8:47 to play.
It got worse two nights later, when the Heat fell 105-102 March 10 at home to the Hornets, again falling from a 17-point lead and, in that one, up 88-77 with 6:47 to play.
Letting go of the rope (0-2): Eventually all the losing took a toll to the degree that there seemed to be capitulation.
That led to consecutive blowout losses at the end of the 10-game slide, falling 125-91 March 15 in Memphis and then 116-95 March 17 in New York.
So when did it go so wrong to wind up at this stage of staring a No. 10 play-in seed in the mirror? The reality is … rather frequently.
IN THE LANE
CANDID VIEW: The reality is that for all his moping about the Heat’s trips to the play-in round the past two seasons, Jimmy Butler could yet be headed there now with the Golden State Warriors. During his team’s visit to Miami, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he appreciates the value of the added postseason layer, even if he would prefer direct entry to the playoffs. “It’s basically generated a playoff race within the playoff race, from the day it started,” Kerr said. “I haven’t loved it, because we’ve been on the wrong end of it. We’re 0-3 in these play-in games. So you finish in the top eight, you feel like you should be in the playoffs. On the other hand, it’s been great for the league. If you’re eighth and you’re seventh, well, you had 82 games to do better, and you didn’t do better and this is the new format. But it has been really effective in generating these races within the races and it’s kept a lot of teams in the hunt. I think in general, that’s a really good thing for the league.”
PRIME FOCUS: Among the Heat’s final fights of the season likely will be battling the Chicago Bulls for homecourt advantage in the Nos. 9-10 play-in opener. So how exactly did the Bulls give themselves a leg up in that race? “I feel like we’re the best conditioned team in the league,” Bulls rookie guard Matas Buzelis said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Guys get tired of playing us. I hear it all the time on the court. They’re like, ‘Man, y’all just keep running.’” The Bulls already have clinched the three-game season series, up 2-0 with the teams to meet in Chicago the final week of the season,
BACK AT IT: Yes, that is former Heat forward Cole Swider back in the NBA, signed to a 10-day contract by the Toronto Raptors and immediately injected into their rotation. Swider, who finished last season on a two-way contract with the Heat, began the season with the Detroit Pistons before being waived and returning to the G League with the Los Angeles Lakers’ affiliate, with whom he shot 42% on 3-pointers. His Toronto opening was created when the Raptors’ 10-day contract of former University of Florida Center Colin Castleton expired.
NEW VISTA: Among the latest with NBA ties to move into the collegiate NIL realm is former Heat scout Wes Wilcox, who has taken over as the general manager of the program at the University of Utah. Wilcox most recently has been serving as assistant general manager with the Kings. While serving as general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ G League team, Wilcox had hired current Utah coach Alex Jensen as his head coach in Canton.
NUMBER
26, 189. Years and days of Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young on Thursday night when, in the first quarter of his team’s loss to the Heat at Kaseya Center, he became the youngest player in NBA history to reach a combined 12,000 points and 4,500 assists, surpassing LeBron James‘ mark (27 years, 31 days). The points that gave him 12,000 came on a 17-foot jumper against Heat guard Pelle Larsson.
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