Thinking playoffs

Heat scrapping to keep its postseason opportunity alive

Heat center Hassan Whiteside says the team has a playoff mentality.

MIAMI — The Miami Heat could already claim victory, considering their place in NBA lore in this comeback from the depths of 11-30 at midseason.

But coach Erik Spoelstra won’t have any of that.

Not when there remain strides to be made, with seven games left in the regular season.

Not when a playoff berth hardly is assured, with a challenging closing schedule.

“Now, all of a sudden, we’re going to be obsessed about result?” Spoelstra said almost incredulously after Wednesday night’s 105-88 victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, with the teams also to meet Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena. “It’s about trying to always get to another level, get better and hold each other accountable to that.”

One result already is in the Heat’s favor. At 37-38, the Heat have matched the 2013-14 New York Knicks for most victories by a team that had stood at least 19 games below .500 at any point during a season. Those Knicks, however, came up one game short of the playoffs.

While four teams have recovered from 19-under to make the playoffs, no team has done it when at such depths at midseason.

“Ideally,” Spoelstra said, “the results would turn out in our favor. But that’s not guaranteed, either.

“When we’re playing hard, when we’re connected, when we’re really committing to doing those multiple-effort things defensively, things usually end up working the way we want to offensively, if we’re sharing the ball and getting those good-to-great possessions.”

Such possessions flowed freely in Wednesday’s second half against the Knicks, who were formally eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.

And, yet, Friday stands as an essential follow up for the Heat. As will Sunday against the visiting Denver Nuggets. And then Wednesday at the start of a three-game trip against the Charlotte Hornets.

Because the Heat’s closing schedule is as challenging as any among the teams battling for one of the final Eastern Conference playoff berths: at Toronto, with the Raptors possibly trying to work Kyle Lowry back into their mix; then at Washington on the second night of a back-to-back, in arguably the Heat’s toughest remaining circumstance; then Cleveland at AmericanAirlines Arena in a game the Cavaliers might still need for playoff seeding; followed by the season finale at home against a Wizards team that likely won’t even then have a definitive read on a seed.

That had center Hassan Whiteside crystallizing it during the pause between these games against the Knicks.

“We can’t control what other teams are doing,” he said. “Right now, we’re in the playoffs. So we’ve got a playoff mindset already. So we’re coming. It’s got to mean a lot.”

The playoff computer models are all lining up in the Heat’s favor.

ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight now has Heat with an 84 percent chance of making the playoffs, with a predicted 41-41 finish. BasketballReference’s model has Heat with a 77.1 percent chance of making the playoffs, at 40.5-41.5, at No. 7 in the East. ESPN’s Basketball Power Index has the Heat with a 75.7 percent chance of making playoffs, with 40-42 predicted final record for No. 7 seed.

At a time others in the second tier of the East race has wobbled, such as the Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks, the Heat have been able to survive the injury absence of Dion Waiters to actually move up in the race.

Forward James Johnson said that is a direct reflection on what the Heat endured during that dip to the depths of 11-30.

“It’s good to see the growth, but it came with trials and tribulation,” he said. “We were in a lot of clutch games, a lot of games we felt we should have won and didn’t. We were just hard-headed, stubborn and love each other to death. So we’re playing for each other out there.”

Which puts him in the same camp as Spoelstra, with little need to discuss paths to specific seeds.

“I don’t think anybody in here thinks about that,” Johnson said. “All we think about is the next game and how we’re going to improve.”

As mundane as that might be. And as necessary.

“It is a privilege, an absolute privilege and honor,” Spoelstra said, “to be in games that mean something.”

GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES Hassan Whiteside said the Heat have a “playoff mindset” already with seven games remaining in the regular season.