Miami Heat facing another sovereign NBA play-in reality

MIAMI — Is play-in fatigue an actual factor? Go no additional than Miami Heat captain Bam Adebayo in your reply.

“I don’t want to be in that s — no more,” Adebayo stated after the Heat lost 124-117 Thursday night to the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena, loss that now has the Heat 1 1/2 video games behind the sixth-place 76ers within the Eastern Conference.

Sixth place, as within the last seed instantly into the best-of-seven opening spherical of the playoffs.

“We’re better,” Adebayo continued, “than being in the play-in for the last four years.”

A play-in berth this season would make it 4 consecutive journeys to that spherical for Erik Spoelstra’s staff, the place one or two losses ends a season earlier than the beginning of the playoffs.

While the main target not too long ago had been upward for the Heat, there may be additionally the reality now of play-in peril, the place a decrease seed may imply the dearth of any kind of house postseason recreation.

In the play-in, No. 7 hosts No. 8, with the winner of that recreation receiving the No. 7 seed within the opening spherical of the playoffs.

Concurrently, the No. 9 seed hosts the No. 10 seed in an elimination recreation.

From there, the loser of the Nos. 7-8 recreation hosts the winner of the Nos. 9-10 recreation for the No. 8 berth within the opening spherical of the playoffs.

After dropping each video games of their two-game journey that began with Tuesday evening’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat discovered themselves going into Saturday’s nationally televised recreation in opposition to the Houston Rockets at Kaseya Center at No. 8 within the East, but additionally simply two video games within the win column forward of the No. 10 Charlotte Hornets, a surging staff the Heat performed twice on the highway over the following three weeks.

So for all of Adebayo’s anger over the play-in, a more true reality is likely to be the Heat having to solidify their seeding in that very spherical.

“We got to lock in and decide what we’re going to be,” stated guard Tyler Herro, who, like Adebayo, has been a part of the play-in run the previous three years. “We’ve been saying it for three, four years, and now we have to come with it.”

The pathway for one thing higher nonetheless might be there, with seven of the following eight at Kaseya Center, the place the Heat are 17-11, giving them extra house victories than the No. 5 Toronto Raptors and No. 6 76ers.

“All of it is important,” Spoelstra stated. “We wished to do one thing on the highway. I believed we had two pictures at it in each of those video games. But this strain, and every thing that we’re feeling was happening the stretch, this can be a privilege. This is an absolute privilege. Even once we’re not getting the end result that we would like, we now have a chance to step up into this strain.

“And going home. The pressure’s still going to be there, and I want that pressure for our team. We have to stack some wins, we have to stack quality, consistent basketball, which we’re fully capable of. And hopefully start on Saturday.”