Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Playoff push a point of pride
Miami postseason spot would validate comeback
MIAMI — To NBA the elite, it might come off as scavenging, bottom feeding, this push for one of the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference that yet could come with a losing record.
But to several players on the Miami Heat roster, there is an appreciation for how much it would mean just to get to the postseason, considering as much where they have come from as their team’s resurgence from 11-30 at midseason.
Twice during his seven NBA seasons Luke Babbitt’s teams have advanced to the playoffs, yet the Heat’s starting power forward has yet to play a single postseason minute.
For backup guard Wayne Ellington, there have 505 regular-season appearances — and just two in the playoffs, for a grand total of 14 career postseason minutes.
Backup forward James Johnson only last season with the Toronto Raptors received his first meaningful postseason minutes, now seeking more in his eighth season.
Rodney McGruder, Willie Reed, Okaro White? Never.
Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson, Hassan Whiteside, Dion Waiters? Once. Goran Dragic? Twice. This is not LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or even Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, fran-
chise mainstays routinely seeking greater glory than merely playing on after the first 82.
This is a roster loaded with players where just making it is a stride of pride.
“It’s important for me,” Ellington said. “I’m in my eighth year, I’m in my eighth season. This is what it’s about, winning basketball games and getting to the playoffs and being successful in the playoffs. It means a lot to me.
“Obviously it means a lot to our team. But obviously I have a little more edge with me to want to be there and be successful in playoffs.”
For Ellington, those lone two playoff appearances came with the Mavericks in the 2013-14 first round, when Dallas was eliminated 4-3 by the San Antonio Spurs. He thought he was headed to an extended playoff run the season before, only to be traded at midseason from the 56-26 Memphis Grizzlies to the 24-58 Cleveland Cavaliers. Ellington watched from home as the Grizzlies advanced to the Western Conference finals.
“I haven’t been in this situation in a long time,” he said. “I came off winning a national championship in college [at North Carolina in 2009] to winning 15 out of 82 my rookie year and my next year 17 out of 82 [with the Minnesota Timberwolves]. It’s been tough.
“I’ve been in some situations that we haven’t been winning as much, but I’ve learned a lot. I’m looking forward to finally being in that situation and being able to be in that moment.”
Babbitt has been in that moment, but only as a spectator, not seeing action when his 2010-11 Portland Trail Blazers lost 4-2 in the first round to the Mavericks or in 2015, when his New Orleans Pelicans were swept 4-0 in the first round by the Golden State Warriors.
“Of course you want to get there and play,” he said. “Two of the teams I’ve played on have been in the playoffs and it’s a great environment.
“You want to be there. May or June rolls around and you get a little tired of sitting on your couch and working out.”
For Whiteside, the playoffs are about validation, validation he felt even when injury cut short last season’s appearance.
“I think that’s really where you make a name in this league,” he said. “There’s guys I got drafted with that still haven’t played in the playoffs.
“I want to keep my full seasons with the Heat playoff run going. My first season, I got here in the middle of the season, we didn’t make the playoffs. And then the second year, last year, we did. I want to make the playoffs every year I’m here.”
So now the pressure mounts, with 10 games to play, the schedule resuming Sunday against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
“These guys want this so bad,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They want this opportunity to be in the playoffs. We’ve fought, scratched, done everything we possibly can to put ourselves into a position to fight for it.
“And I want our guys to enjoy this. I don’t feel that we’re putting any undue pressure, but everybody will feel like when they lose, that the world is collapsing. This playoff race is still going on. But I think we need a day to get away from it, decompress and get back to work on Saturday.”
“This is what it’s about, winning basketball games and getting to the playoffs.” Wayne Ellington, Heat guard