Fun only goes so far
Lacking star power, Miami has a narrow path to a long playoff run
who the Heat need to meet in the playoffs if they want to have an actual shot at winning.
You know they can’t break code and say it themselves.
“Doesn’t matter — it’s not in our control,’’ Dwyane Wade said for all the Heat players after practice on Monday.
Here’s why it matters: The Heat are fun. They’re spirited. They’ve been a good follow in the regular season, if that’s your thing, right down to Tuesday’s playoff-clinching win against Atlanta, 101-98.
Tuesday also showed the problem. They trailed a tanking Atlanta team by nine points midway through the fourth quarter. They needed an 11-0 run and two blocks by Josh Richardson in the final 1.3 seconds to win.
How could they struggle so mightily against an Atlanta team designed to lose and without a road win against a Southeast division rival all year?
Easy answer: The same way they lost in overtime Sunday to a Brooklyn team that hadn’t won in overtime all year.
Easier answer: The same way they’ve lost 11 games this season to teams at least 10 games under .500.
Let’s not overdo this. The Heat are a fun team to watch in the regular season, if that’s your thing. They’re all we got in South Florida, too, as far as playoff teams.
Yes, we’ve gone through another cycle of seasons and only the Heat are in. In fact, since 2009, the Heat have quadrupled the playoff appearances of the other teams (Panthers in 2015, Dolphins 2016) combined.
But the Heat are a team of Robins with no Batman. They have no star in league of stars. And that’s why the only thing for Heat fans to root for right now is for the Eastern Conference standings to freeze.
They are in the seventh seed by a thread. Boston is the second seed for the moment. That’s the way you want the planets to align, if you’re rooting for the Heat to have a chance of advancing.
Cleveland? Some Heat fans naturally will want to play LeBron James. At least until they get him. The only intrigue to a LeBron-Miami series would be if Cleveland wins in four or a distant five games.
“What LeBron does in a playoff series, and the playoffs overall, is very unique,’’ Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said. “For me personally being the East, this is my fifth season, four years in the playoffs, and he’s a special force on the game.
“Until somebody beats whatever team LeBron is playing for, that’s the team to beat,’’ Budenholzer said.
Next case: Toronto, the No. 1 seed for now. This could be a fun series, because they Heat play Toronto tough. They went seven games a couple years back. They split the two games this year. Scheduling quirk: They play on the final game of the year, which would be odd if they open in the playoffs.
But the Raptors have too much star-power for the Heat right now. The Celtics oddly don’t. No Gordon Hayward this year. No Keith Smart right now.
Most importantly, Boston wouldn’t have Kyrie Irving, at least for the start of the series. That would give the Heat the chance to win one of the two opening games in Boston and shift the pressure onto the Celtics.
Boston has been hit with some bad injuries. That’s a team you want to play in the playoffs.
Of course, as now, just getting into the playoffs was a chore for the Heat. They needed a mighty comeback Tuesday against an awful Atlanta team.
They got it, too. It wasn’t pretty. But pretty is relative when they’re the only local team heading to the postseason.
dhyde@sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @davehydesports;