Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat streak isn’t a hot topic
Players, coaches remain humble and hungry, playing it game by game.
It’s not exactly the sound of silence in the Heat locker room these days. Unless you want to talk about the 12-game winning streak.
The need to get back to a more defensive disposition? Coach Erik Spoelstra will stand front and center to address that one. The importance of continuing to grind? Goran Dragic embraces that conversation. The dangers of satisfaction? Rodney McGruder has pointed words on the topic.
But proclamations about being unbeatable since Jan. 17? Not here, not even after matching the Golden State Warriors’ November run for the longest winning streak in the NBA this season.
“I know it feels good, it looks good, it looks sweet, but we’re not celebrating,” forward James Johnson said, as the Heat turn their attention to their game tonight against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. “That’s the honest truth. We’re not talking about our record. No one in here.
“We didn’t do that when we were on a losing streak, and we’re not going to do that when we’re on a winning streak.”
The Heat made it 12 in a row Wednesday with 106-88 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks. The previous time the Heat played at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, they fell to 11-30.
And they haven’t lost since.
And haven’t changed their focus.
“Guys are still showing up on time,” Johnson said. “Guys are still wearing their Miami Heat gear. Guys are still sticking to the same details and the same rules that we applied when we were losing, before the season, preseason.
“So there’s no change in us, not our approach to practice, not our approach to shootaround. Nothing.”
Not that there haven’t been attempts to coax smiles.
Genial Heat sideline reporter Jason Jackson attempted to get Spoelstra to directly address the winning streak in the immediate wake of their victory Wednesday. Instead he received the equivalent of a verbal wink of defiance.
“I’m not going to talk about the streak,” Spoelstra said with a grudging smile. “You might be able to get those guys. It’s more about a group of players coming together to form an identity as a team and embrace each other, embrace a culture, embrace defending with a purpose.”
Even when his players did discuss the streak, which ties for the thirdlongest in the franchise’s 29 seasons, they did in measured words.
“I feel like you get full of yourself when you talk about how good you are, and that’s not something we’re going to do,” McGruder said. “We’re just trying to stay the course, stay in the moment and stay level-headed.”
Perspective. Fifteen strong worth of perspective.
“We’re sticking with our principles to be an aggressive, physical team,” Dragic said. “There is nothing in here about we’re going to blow out the opponent by 20.”
In fact, after extending the winning streak to 11 on Monday with a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the start of this four-game trip, there practically was disgust about allowing .538 shooting, the best shooting performance against the Heat in 29 games.
“Everybody was disappointed about that,” Spoelstra said. “So we had a film session and we just saw how bad we were and how fragile things can be.”
Even with this latest success, there still is a record seven games below .500 and an outsider’s view of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
And therefore humility about strides still needed, hunger about what remains to be accomplished.
“We saw this group was building habits, even through some of the losses,” Spoelstra said. “Our mindset is not going to change right now. It’s not about the wins or the streak or any of that. It’s about continue to try to get better.
“It’s one of the toughest things to do, not only in pro sports but in everyday life, it’s just to focus on the improvement every day.”
“Our mindset is not going to change right now.” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra