The Miami Heat are coming off an excellent first part of the season and though three quarters of the year is pretty much behind them, this second part of the year is where the real fun begins.
Finishing the pre-All-Star section of the schedule leading the NBA’s Eastern Conference, a lot changed as the teams and players got ready to take their week-long break. With the NBA Trade Deadline shaking things up quite a bit around the league, the opinions and hot takes have begun to fly.
Even beyond the general madness of it all, things have continued to get even quirkier from a Miami Heat perspective, as Miami Heat Lifer, the one and only Goran Dragic, recently signed with the Brooklyn Nets to help bolster their chances of a deep playoff run.
Speaking of the Nets though, they are a team that many had as their favorites coming into the year. After not having Kyrie Irving and injuries to their other two best players, Kevin Durant and James Harden, many began to wonder if that would come to fruition.
Now, after moving on from Harden and filling that void with Ben Simmons, many have thrust them back to the top of their lists.
The Miami Heat seem to be an afterthought coming out of the All-Star break, mainly due to all the latest trades. They are just where they want to be though.
With the swap though, making a tandem of Joel Embiid and Harden in Philly, quite a few people have even pushed Philly towards the top of their favorites list as well, as far as the East is concerned anyway.
With Boston trending upward before the break in a major way, with Chicago still playing excellent ball behind the magnificent play of DeMar DeRozan, and with Giannis Antetokounmpo still leading the Milwaukee Bucks, many people have seemed to forget about the Miami Heat.
That’s ok though. The Miami Heat are, only, leading the entire conference and all while having as much, if not more, flux in their lineup and rotation as anyone has this season.
That’s all. They are also one of four teams in the top-10 for both offensive and defensive rating, along with Phoenix, Utah, and Memphis.
Yea, the Miami Heat are just fine. Again, at number one in the East and one of the four best teams in the entire league, record-wise, the Miami Heat are right where they want to be.
They thrive on being underrated, undervalued, and looked over. Guys like Jimmy Butler, P.J. Tucker, and Kyle Lowry feed off of that type of energy.
It’s the very thing that has propelled them to this point in their careers. It’s also the very thing that can propel the Miami Heat towards their ultimate goal—the NBA Title.
As Jimmy Butler insinuated during the All-Star Game, after TNT‘s Draymond Green asked about being an afterthought in light of all the NBA tradewinds, that’s just the way he likes it. He speaks for the entire culture and to be frank—he couldn’t have put it any better.