Though the Miami Heat have their own drama to be worried about after an abysmal Game 4 showing in Boston, there is another Conference Finals series going on out in the NBA’s Western Conference.
With the Golden State Warriors in Dallas with a chance to sweep the Mavericks, the NBA ON TNT guys were, of course, in the building. Before the game started, they would officially announce the All-NBA Teams for the season.
Here they were:
All-NBA 1st Team – Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Jayson Tatum, Nikola Jokic
All-NBA 2nd Team – Ja Morant, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Duran, Joel Embiid
All-NBA 3rd Team – Trae Young, Chris Paul, LeBron James, Pascal Siakam, Karl-Anthony Towns
Noticeably absent, are the names of any Miami Heat players.
The Miami Heat didn’t have a guy to make either of the All-NBA teams. That’s alright though, as the priority there is always about the bigger picture.
While that was something to be expected, here’s how the voting went for their guys.
Bam Adebayo received four second-team votes and 16 third-team votes to finish fifth among the voting at center. Jimmy Butler received two second-team votes and 26 third-team votes to finish as the seventh-highest voted forward.
Again though, that was to be expected and that’s totally fine. Both, the reason it’s fine and to be expected can be summed up perfectly in this next quote.
The Heat are aware that the lack of national coverage hurts them with awards.
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) May 25, 2022
But as a high-ranking official told me last night: "We're about other things."
The Miami Heat aren’t prioritizing individual accolades over the success of the team and the players won’t either. As also alluded to by Five Reasons Sports further down the above-linked tweet, the Miami Heat don’t necessarily not want their guys to get individual accomplishments or awards either.
They just won’t find themselves prioritizing those types of things over team success or doing anything beyond the scope of playing their best basketball to get it. There won’t be any lobbying from the Miami Heat throughout the year for certain awards.
Now, that also doesn’t mean there won’t be reactions, such as Bam Adebayo’s and Coach Spoelstra’s reactions to Adebayo’s disappointing NBA DPOY finish. However, they won’t allow that to ever be their core focus is what you take from it.
With a must-win type of game, it seems, on Wednesday in Miami, All-NBA Team selections should be the least of their worries. If they can hold the title up at the end of it all, that’s all that will matter.