The 26-32 Miami Heat are currently the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference and are fighting for a playoff spot, much to a portion of Heat Nations disappointment, for better or worse.
With the Miami Heat vying for a playoff spot and choosing not to tank, many fans have literally heated up via NBA Twitter, where they want nothing to do with being the 8th seed and want everything to do with getting a high lottery pick. To be frank, I couldn’t disagree more with the fans who want this team to tank, and Head Coach Erik Spoelstra paired with General Manager Pat Riley would greatly agree with me, apparently.
Spo recently told Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel and other Miami reporters that he’s been telling the players that they should try and keep the noise out and they have nothing to explain to anyone:
"“We don’t have to express anything to you,” Spoelstra said following practice at AmericanAirlines Arena, in his first media session since again pointing, in the immediate wake of his team’s Monday night loss to the league-worst Phoenix Suns, to progress being made. “We owe nothing to any of you. We can express our disappointment and anger to ourselves. But this is not about sending a message to any of you.”“This is about us and it was even more paramount that we have blinders on and just focus on doing better and not trying to please or satisfy whatever anybody else opinion of what’s going on.”"
I 100 percent agree with Spo, the players need to put blinders on, however, they also need to look in the mirror. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, this team is full of overpaid and selfish players that once fought for each other and now seem to only fight for themselves, they need to get back to their previously gritty culture before these fans get into Riley’s head and he calls a tank to these lineups as well as trading multiple guys this summer.
If anything, I would just tape a picture of Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington on each players locker to make a point: This is what happens when the team doesn’t fix its own problems, you lose your brothers.
Hopefully, through Spo’s quote and the fire from the fans, this team can wake up, as I still believe in this dormant culture and hope that they can start with a win against the Golden State Warriors tonight.