Miami Heat: Can They Just… Flip The Switch In the Playoffs?
The Miami Heat are one of the best teams… or are they full of excuses?
After going toe-to-toe with James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals and despite a bevy of injuries to open the season, a .500 record and fighting for a playoff berth is likely not what Erik Spoelstra and the Heat had in mind coming into this year.
The Excuses
But that isn’t because the team is falling apart.
For starters, the season began just 73 days after Game Six of the NBA Finals ended. That’s a pretty quick turnaround, which was evident in a slow 4-7 start.
light. Related Story. Dewayne Dedmon proving to be worth his weight in gold
Injuries have also loomed for most of the season. Jimmy Butler has been in and out of the lineup, missing 16 games this season.
Bam Adebayo‘s knee has pestered him all year long. Andre Iguodala has nursed a neck injury throughout the season.
Roughly two weeks into January, COVID-19 took six players out of the lineup. At the end of March, the Heat went 6-1 while in the process of acquiring Victor Oladipo.
After playing just four games, Oladipo went down with a knee injury and is expected to be out until he feels good enough to play on it.
Butler has also missed the Heat’s last two games with an ankle injury. For the Miami Heat, the magic of the flipped switch might simply be getting healthy before the playoffs.