Miami Heat: Winning out might be the only route to the playoffs
If the Miami Heat have any plans of making the playoffs this year, winning out might be the only way they can get it done
With only three games remaining in the regular season, after a loss at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night, it’s looking more and more likely that the Miami Heat’s only route to the NBA Playoffs will be winning each of their last three games.
Currently, Miami is sitting in the 9th spot and one game back of the Detroit Pistons and Brooklyn Nets, and roughly 2.5 games back of the Orlando Magic considering they own the tiebreak over Miami.
At this point in the Heat’s playoff push, it’s not outlandish to say that the team would have to win-out for them to even have a shot at making the playoffs. Considering their schedule, that’s probably going to be easier said than done.
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Losing to the Boston Celtics (twice) probably should’ve been expected. Snagging one would’ve been nice, but not something that the team should’ve projected out. However, losing to the Wolves Friday night was the ultimate punch in the gut.
It absolutely makes their road to the playoffs even more difficult, and possibly out of reach. The Heat closes their regular season slate with games against the Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets.
Perhaps Miami will catch a break if the Raptors and/or Sixers decide to rest one or a few of their starters in preparation for the playoffs, but even then the Heat would probably still be underdogs against either of those teams.
If they can somehow split those games, or even miraculously win both of them, there’s still a final game against the Nets that could likely be a playing in game between the two teams.
Per ESPN’s BPI playoff odds, the Heat are projected to finish as the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference and only have a 31 percent chance of making the playoffs with three games remaining in the season.
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The Heat’s playoff chances of making the playoffs looks bleak at this point, and appears to be getting worse with every passing day.