Miami Heat Roundtable: Grading The Team’s Season – Noah’s Take
The Miami Heat pushed their season all the way to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals, only to fall a few points short to the Boston Celtics. The loss was disappointing, not only because the Heat no longer have a chance to prove themselves in the NBA Finals, but also because the Heat still probably feel that they were the better team.
Noah’s Take (@ndeckerbuckets)
There will be no NBA championship this year in South Beach. With that being said, the Heat had an excellent season that exceeded what many had expected out of them. Miami finished as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.
Who saw that coming with all of the stacked teams in the East? You have the Bucks, the Nets, the 76ers, and more.
And Miami came out on top of all of them.
The feat is even more impressive when you think of all of the injuries they had dealt with this season. There was rarely a time when the full team was healthy.
Like many other teams this season, the Heat had to go deep into their rotation to find players who could provide valuable minutes.
For the Heat, it seemed like each player stepped up and became an asset. For example, think of what Omer Yurtseven was able to accomplish when Bam Adebayo went out.
The credit goes to Coach Spoelstra and the rest of the Heat staff for finding talent and turning G-league and undrafted players into valuable role players. Also, think of what the Heat were able to accomplish in the postseason, particularly Jimmy Butler.
The man averaged 27 and led the playoffs in steals per game. He scored 40 points in every series he played in.
Despite injuries continuing to haunt Miami, they were able to force a Game 7 after a Game 6 win in Boston. It is tough to win in that arena.
Now that the positives are out of the way, let’s look at the glaring obvious negative to the season. The goal is to win a championship.
The Heat did not complete their mission. There were also a few times where their offense struggled, shooting 20 percent from three in some games.
That does not warrant an A in my book. The regular season was excellent.
The postseason was mostly excellent. Hopefully, the Heat come back next year and improve upon what they built this year.
For this season, the grade they earn is somewhere below an A. To take the lead of the greatest Miami Heat player of all time in his infamous appearance as a Slam Dunk Contest judge, this season was “a nine out of ten.”
Overall Grade: B+