Cons for the Miami Heat’s final 26 games
According to Tankathon, the Miami Heat have 7th hardest schedule remaining in the NBA, playing mostly above .500 teams with the average record percentage of the final 26 games being a whopping .524 percent.
A monumental con for the Heat is that they will be playing 18 teams in those 26 games, and 14 of those 18 teams have a 2019 All-Star on them, meaning they are fairly legit teams as the Heat are without a real All-Star (yes, the Wade nomination wasn’t real to me).
Some notable teams the Heat will play are the Milwaukee Bucks (twice), Toronto Raptors (twice), Philadelphia 76ers (twice), Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Boston Celtics. With 5 of those 6 teams having multiple 2019 All-Stars on each of their rosters. And with the Heat being known for depth and not star power, this won’t be anything new to them. However, it should be stated that the Heat aren’t used to playing in such a dynamic conference now that LeBron James is gone, as Eastern GM’s have loaded up on their teams with multiple All-Stars (think, Sixers).
Ultimately, it will be up to Head Coach Erik Spoelstra to have faith in his depth and hope that it will be enough to squeeze in between the 6th and 8th seed, as most strength of schedule references believe the Heat are pretty much out of playoff contention.