Play-in, playoff possibilities going into Sunday’s finale

MIAMI — All the Miami Heat need now is for somebody else to care as much as they care about Sunday’s final day of the NBA season.

Erik Spoelstra has made it abundantly clear that his team still cares, cares plenty, going into Sunday’s season finale against the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center.

The problem is that for the Heat to maximize their postseason standing, it will require teams with nothing to play for to play at least with a level of pride.

History says that won’t happen, with the Heat with as good a point of reference in that regard as any NBA team.

But first things first:

■ With the NBA idle Saturday, the Heat sit No. 8 in the Eastern Conference;

■ The top six seeds advance directly to the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs that begin next weekend;

■ The eighth-place team then plays at the seventh-place team for the No. 7 playoff seed and a bestof-seven opening-round series against the No. 2 seed, which at this point will be the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers;

■ The loser of that seventh-place game against the eight-place team then hosts the winner of a game between the ninth-place team (Chicago Bulls) and 10th-place team (Atlanta Hawks) for the final conference playoff berth and the right to meet the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics in the best-of-seven opening round;

■ That means if the standings finish as currently ordered, the Heat would get two chances to win one game to advance to the best-ofseven first round.

That’s the format, one that has been in place the past four seasons.

But where it gets tricky for the Heat is Sunday’s math.

For the Heat to escape the play-in, there are two must-have components to at least have a chance to escape the play-in round:

■ The Heat must defeat the visiting Raptors on Sunday (with a loss, the Heat are locked into eighth place and a road game to open the play-in round);

■ And the Orlando Magic must lose at home to the Milwaukee Bucks.

In addition to those two definitive, must-have factors, one additional outcome must occur for the Heat to avoid the play-in round:

■ Either the Indiana Pacers must lose at home to the Atlanta Hawks;

■ Or the Philadelphia 76ers must lose at home to the Brooklyn Nets.

The reality during the final day of the NBA season, however, is all is not as it might appear.

And that’s where it gets tricky for the Heat, who in a perfect-case scenario could finish as high as No. 5 in the East.

For example:

■ Milwaukee, which plays in Orlando and must beat the Magic for the Heat to have any chance to escape the play-in, has shown little desperation to retain the No. 2 seed in the East, going as far to hold out Damian Lillard in addition to injured Giannis Antetomoumpo in Friday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. “Sunday, if Dame wasn’t right, we’re not gonna play him,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Friday. “Otherwise, something happens there and you’re in a lot of trouble”;

■ Brooklyn, which plays in Philadelphia, has been deemphasizing victory to the point of holding leading man Mikal Bridges out of fourth quarters, including Friday night’s competitive loss to the Knicks, with Brooklyn already announcing that Dennis Schröder, Dennis Smith Jr. and Dorian Finney-Smith are done for the season. A Nets win against the 76ers would put the Heat in control of its own fate of at least hosting the Nos. 7-8 play-in game;

■ Atlanta, which closes in Indiana, in another game where an upset would greatly benefit the Heat, is not expected to play any rotation players against the Pacers, with Atlanta then moving on to a win-or-go-home play-in game Wednesday against the Bulls.

“All I’m focused on is we get to a place where we’re connected and playing for each other and playing a spirited game where it’s to our identity,” Spoelstra said. “That’s all I care about right now. Because when we get to that, we feel like we can beat anybody anywhere anytime.”

For the Heat it creates a discomforting sense of deja vu.

During the final day of the 201617 season, after roaring back from an 11-30 start over the first half of the season to a 30-11 close, the Heat needed a victory of their own on the closing day that season and a Bulls loss to make the playoffs.

The Heat took care of their business with a 110-102 home victory over the Washington Wizards. But with nothing to play for that day, the Nets sat their leading players in a capitulating 112-72 road loss to the Bulls.

It was a moment that had one Heat player in tears in the locker room afterward and the Heat privately seething about the Nets’ total indifference.

Now the Heat find themselves at that same crossroads, desperation of their own possibly to be met by dispassionateness of those they are relying on for assistance.

“Just focus on handling what we can handle,” forward Caleb Martin said, “control what we can control.”

To center Bam Adebayo, it’s about simplicity ruling the day.

“We’re going to play Sunday and we’re going to figure out the rest,” he said.

Knowing there will be at least two more games, whether it is an opening play-in win and then the playoffs or, at the least, a pair of play-in games.

“What happens, happens,” forward Nikola Jovic said. “We’ll see who we got and we’ll prepare.

“We’re not talking a lot about it. I feel like you just got to go day by day. We’re working on our game and not worrying about who’s going to be the opponent until we know who it is.”

Injury report

The Heat are listing Terry Rozier (neck spasms) as out for Sunday, after he has missed the past three games. He previously had been listed as questionable prior to the games he has missed with the ailment.

Upgraded to questionable was Duncan Robinson (back), who also has missed the past three games.

In addition Josh Richardson (season-ending shoulder surgery) is out.

The reminder of the roster is available.

Spoelstra