Most of the Miami Heat's problems can't be fixed by an optimistic outlook from head coach Erik Spoelstra.
After Friday night's 98-96 loss to the Boston Celtics, the Heat have less than 30 games remaining in the season, like the majority of the rest of the NBA. The trade deadline is a thing of the past, and only the future is what the Heat have to deal with.
After missing out on Giannis Antetokounmpo, Miami had a quiet trade deadline and will play the rest of the season with the same group they had before February 5th. As for this same group — well, Erik Spoelstra is trying to be as optimistic as he possibly can be.
The Heat are only one game above .500 and currently sit in eighth in the Eastern Conference. They have massively underachieved this season, and for a few reasons. That said, the East is still considered more open than it has in the past, which is maybe why Spoelstra believes his team isn't far off from success.
Erik Spoelstra preaches a 'high ceiling' mentality as the Heat embark on the last stretch of the NBA season
Despite where the Heat sit in the standings and their mediocre record, Miami is actually a top-10 team in some league-wide statistics. Specifically, when it comes to overall offense and defense, incredibly, the Heat ranks in the top six in each category. How they are not sitting higher in the standings, then, is a very legitimate question.
Injuries have played a role, especially for Tyler Herro, one of Miami's top point-getters, ball-handlers, and knock-down shooters. But there is more to it than just baskets and statistics, as Spoelstra explained after Friday's shootaround before the Heat play the Celtics.
“League-wide, I think everybody is just glad that all of that is behind us,” Spoelstra said about the trade deadline according to The Miami Herald. “And we can just focus on the next 30 games. We have great opportunities still ahead of us, we know what we have to work on is our consistency, we have a high ceiling, but we need to do it more consistently.
“I think we’ve shown this year we have a high ceiling. I’ve talked about it quite a bit,” Spoelstra continued. “The fact that we’re third in the league in scoring and have a top-six defense shows you where we can go to, but we have to be a lot more consistent with it.”
Spoelstra's comments, of course, come after the Heat failed to land Giannis or anyone else, for that matter, including Ja Morant, whom the Heat were also linked to as far as superstars go. Now that the dust has settled, what the Heat cannot do is take a step back, but instead, push forward. It's unlikely the Heat will make any real noise in the playoffs, but they can reach the playoffs if they play more consistent basketball, as Spoelstra also stated:
“Look, we’ve had some guys miss games. But a bigger thing has been just our consistency,” Spoelstra said. “To be able to do our best level more consistently on the road versus quality teams, having more consistent quarters all the way throughout the game. First quarter, second quarter, and then this third quarter that we have to do a much better job with.”
The Heat should be better than their record suggests, and they have 30 games left to prove it. Spoelstra believes they can, but factors like health and availability must go their way.