Heat headed back to the play-in tournament for a 4th consecutive season
If the Miami Heat are going to find their way back to the NBA playoffs, they'll have to survive the play-in tournament. “We're disappointed, for sure, that we weren't able to bring another level of competitive spirit to this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team fell to 0-3 against the Raptors this season.
If the Miami Heat are going to find their way back to the NBA playoffs, they'll have to survive the play-in tournament. Again. They didn't want to go back there, and weren't afraid to say so — “we're better than being in the play-in," Heat captain Bam Adebayo said a few weeks ago — but the Heat fate became sealed Tuesday night in a 121-95 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
That guaranteed that Miami cannot finish in the top six in the Eastern Conference, meaning its only path to the playoffs is through the play-in. And the Heat are headed there for a fourth consecutive year. “We're disappointed, for sure, that we weren't able to bring another level of competitive spirit to this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team fell to 0-3 against the Raptors this season.
“That's what's disappointing. We're not thinking about the next step right now. ” The play-in tournament is only six years old (seven if counting one play-in game that happened in the bubble season of 2020), but Miami has already found its way to the last-chance event four times — tying the most of any team.
The Heat are the third team to qualify for the play-in in four different seasons; Atlanta (which still could end up there this year) went to the play-in in each of the last four seasons, and Golden State will make its fourth play-in appearance next week as well. If there is any good news for the Heat, it's that Miami has always survived the play-in and wound up grabbing the No. 8 playoff spot.