The Miami Heat may have gotten a big win Friday night against the Washington Wizards, completing a 4-0 season sweep, but the damage done beforehand had already taken its toll on the Heat's players and head coach, Erik Spoelstra.
Prior to their 140-117 blowout win over the Wizards, the Heat lost all chance and hope of moving outside of the play-in seeding into the playoffs. Two consecutive losses to the Toronto Raptors earlier in the week especially doomed them; Miami was blown out in both games.
Now, Miami's play-in fate has been sealed, and they will be forced to play themselves out of their mess if they want any hope of playing in a first-round playoff series. As for their play-in seeding, it's their fourth consecutive time there, and while we've heard from Heat players and their distaste for it, Spoelstra laments it just as well.
Erik Spoelstra laments Heat's lack of competitive spirit
Miami joins the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors as the teams to fall to the play-in tournament four consecutive years. The Warriors will also be a play-in team this season with the Heat, while the Hawks have set themselves free of it. That said, if any positive news can be taken from this, it's that the Heat are the most successful play-in team since the tournament's inception.
Miami has reached the playoffs four times as a play-in seed. In 2023, they reached the NBA Finals as a play-in seed and to date have the most total wins in play-in games. That said, being a regular play-in team is not how NBA teams should measure success, and the Heat, given the type of organization and culture they pride themselves on, certainly are thrilled no matter how much success they've had in past seasons.
Heat fans have heard from both Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro in recent weeks about their dismay at being a play-in team, and now Spoelstra has also spoken out. In speaking with the media earlier in the week, Spoelstra expressed his disappointment that the Heat failed to reach a higher seed.
“We’re disappointed for sure that we weren’t able to bring another level of competitive spirit to this,” Spoelstra said. “That’s what’s disappointing. We’re not thinking about the next step right now.”
This season comes down to one aspect, and injuries were a factor, but not the sole factor. Consistency. The Heat failed to play consistent basketball all season. Miami spent a good bulk of the year as a top offense and defense, yet a lack of wins rang louder.
Spoelstra mentioned 'competitive spirit' as the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, and that was ever more evident in the Heat's back-to-back losses to the Raptors this week. Toronto outscored Miami 249-209, and its defense could not stop the Raptors' hot offense.
Now, the Heat will have to do what they've done every year for the past four: drag themselves out of the play-in into the playoffs. Whether they can keep their play-in streak alive remains to be seen. If they can make it out, it won't be an easy first-round series, there's no doubt about that.