For many of the Miami Heat roster, that is all new, having to attempt to advance to the NBA playoffs by way of the play-in match.
To Kevin Love and Caleb Martin, having been there earlier than with different groups, it primarily is March Madness in April.
“You’ve got to come ready to play,” Martin mentioned, with the Heat hopeful of advancing to the playoffs with a Tuesday evening victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center, the brand new title for the Heat’s area. “I mean, all I know is this isn’t a situation we were banking on. So you have to come in prepared like it’s the NCAA Tournament, like you’re one and done. So come in ready.”
Love agreed.
“I feel like because there’s so much at stake, it almost feels like a one-and-done type situation,” Love mentioned. “It almost feels like a Game 7 or a March Madness type situation.”
Neither Love, final season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, nor Martin, two years in the past with the Charlotte Hornets, had been capable of make it out of the play-in. So they significantly admire the urgency.
“It’s definitely a spot even coming out of the [All-Star] break, we didn’t see ourselves in,” Love mentioned. “But this is the reality of the situation.”
While Sunday’s regular-season finale in opposition to the visiting Orlando Magic stays, that sport is meaningless within the standings, with the Heat already locked into seventh place within the Eastern Conference.
Tuesday, although, has important which means. If the Heat win that sport in opposition to the Hawks, they’re within the playoffs because the No. 7 seed, to face the No. 2 Boston Celtics within the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.
Should the Heat lose Tuesday’s house sport, they get a second likelihood on the playoffs on Friday evening, after they host the winner of Wednesday’s sport between the ninth-place Toronto Raptors and the Tenth-place Chicago Bulls. The winner of that Friday sport advances to the best-of-seven opening spherical of the playoffs because the No. 8 East seed, to face the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks.
The playoffs open April 15.
For a crew that completed final season because the No. 1 seed within the East and superior inside a victory of the 2022 NBA Finals, it’s not the postseason path of alternative for the Heat.
“This,” coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned, “is our actuality and you need to embrace that. This is a completely new expertise for all of us. It’s not precisely the place we wished to be heading into this season, should you return to coaching camp. But that’s completely irrelevant.
“We have this in front of us and it’s competition and it’s great competition with a lot at stake. That is something to look forward to, particularly with the competitors that we have in our locker room.”
For weeks, the Heat have burdened the necessity to keep away from the play-in spherical. Those hopes ended with the Brooklyn Nets on Friday evening securing the sixth and closing direct East seed into the playoffs.
“At the end of the day,” guard Tyler Herro mentioned, “there’s groups that aren’t within the play-in that might relatively be within the play-in than not be within the playoffs in any respect. We’re probably not too fearful about the place we’re at.
“I feel like we’re playing good basketball right now. And the opportunity is there in front of us, and all we have to do is win a game, get into the playoffs. And like we’ve been saying all year, when we’re at our best, we can play with anybody.”
With the Heat sitting most rotation gamers Friday, their highway loss to the Washington Wizards proved moot. Few if any of the rotation gamers will play Sunday, in a sport the place an Orlando loss would profit the Magic by way of lottery seeding.
And then it turns into about attempting to make issues proper.
“I think it’s just the bed we made,” guard Gabe Vincent mentioned of the seventh-place end. “We have to lay in it. We have to take some responsibility for the position that we’re in, go out there and put our best foot forward.”
With Spoelstra assured that also can occur.
“Maybe this is the path for this group,” he mentioned. “That’s the way I look at it. We’re a dangerous team. We’re finding our health, we’re getting a confidence about how we’re playing.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com