Ira Winderman: Behind the eight ball? Heat have that many chances to make this right
INDIANAPOLIS — No, this is not the playoff race the Heat were hoping for at the start of the season, to be sitting here, with two weeks to play, mired in their annual winter home, the play-in bracket, and at the bottom of that bracket, no less. But this is where they stand after their two-game series in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, including Friday night’s worst-ever defensive performance , facing the reality of having to play in the days immediately after their April 12 regular-season finale against the Atlanta Hawks, with teams with direct entry into the playoffs otherwise getting that week off. Such are the spoils for teams that finish Nos.
1-6 in each conference, a reality the Heat have not experienced in any of the past three seasons, with three consecutive trips to the play-in round. So it remains a wild ride, one that had them at No. 8 in the East after defeating the Cavaliers on Wednesday night and then down at No.
10 (also known as the final play-in berth) before they lost to the Cavaliers on Friday night. “It can be crazy, when everybody is just locked in at very similar records,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the dense pack from No. 5 through No.
10 in the East, the six teams separated by 2 1/2 games entering the weekend “But we don’t want to obsess about all that. ” It also is hard not to, as this rollercoaster of a Heat season that careened between the seven-game winning streak and then six losses in the seven games that now have followed directly after. “I mean, around this time of the year, you pay attention to it a lot, especially where we’re at in the standings,” guard Norman Powell said.
“Really, every team in that group is really fighting to maintain or get out of the play-in. You’re watching it really closely. But honestly, we’ve just got to focus on what we can control and what we have to do and how we have to play that’s going to give us the best opportunity.
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