- 2 days ago
What are the Miami Heat’s chances of making it out of the Play-In? What is the temperature around the fans going through Play-in memory lane?
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00:00I was just seeing on Heat vs. Haters Twitter, he said three years ago today, I assume it's a Heat,
00:06I actually don't know, to be honest with you, could very well be a woman who runs Heat vs. Haters.
00:10I have no idea. Never met the person.
00:12Three years ago today, kicked off the start of a magical 2023 run, and they're showing the highlights of Heat
00:17vs. Bulls. You know what the funny thing is about that day?
00:20The funny thing about that day was, with the play-in, that felt like a funeral. I don't think I've
00:28ever gone into a building of Heat basketball where everybody had the attitude, let's just get this over with, it's
00:38gonna be, this is, this is, like, just put us out of our misery, because if you remember, the Heat
00:43got in, that was the second play-in game.
00:45The Heat have never just done one-and-done play-in, even when they've been the seventh seed. They've always
00:50had to play two play-in games.
00:52And the game going into the Bulls, I don't know if I've ever, I mean, I'm talking about Heat lifers
00:59I'm running to in the building, okay, who are like, dude, let's just get this over with.
01:05Nobody had confidence after that Hawks game and what Clint Capella did to us. Nobody had faith that the Heat
01:13were going to even beat the Chicago Bulls that day.
01:15And that's what ended up being into the magical run. But that play-in vibe that day, not great. The
01:24next time, so pathetic, I have to go down play-in memory lane.
01:28And the next year, we have the Sixers play-in game. And that one was, of course, just cloudy because
01:35you lost Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler blew out his knee because Kelly Oubre wanted to play WWE.
01:40And so that was basically like, well, we're sunk. We just lost Jimmy Butler. We are absolutely donezo. And last
01:49year, I mean, I had no faith that team could win two games in a row.
01:58This is, in all honesty, like, I do feel like this Heat team does have the capability of doing it.
02:06But I just don't think the, I don't know what the appetite of the fan base is right now of
02:11doing this again. You know, I think that's, that's the interesting part of, of all this is like, yes, last
02:17year, there was so much stress with, uh, with, with the chaos of the season.
02:21And the, the win streak, losing streak. Um, but they 37 win team. I mean, that's a, that's not a
02:28good basketball team and they go and win two road games. First team in the 10 seed to come out
02:33of it. Now they're back in that spot again. All right. It was a very bunched up field. Like a
02:37lot of the records were better in the East, but you also have a third of the conference. That's not
02:40trying.
02:41And I do feel like this is a year where it's not necessarily a lack of faith. Like, I don't
02:50think any Heat fan would be super surprised if they went into Charlotte tonight and won. They've done it recently,
02:55but it's almost like this. Yeah. But what's the point? Like, what's the end game here? You know, that's, that's
03:02really, I think the attitude everybody has is not a, can they, can't they, we know that this team doesn't
03:09have the capability.
03:10Of doing anything that's like for real. And we saw what happened last year. Like they wanted to play the
03:17last two years. All right. The first year you lose Jimmy to injury. Fine. You could, I will always say
03:24you lose your best player. And hell, even at that time, Terry Rozier, you, those are some big injuries to
03:29the team. You get lopped off by a Boston team. That was a machine. Fine. But last year getting embarrassed
03:36the way that they did by Cleveland and you know,
03:40and you really thought like, man, this, there has to be a different pivot from here. They go and make
03:46the Norm Powell trade. Okay. They did something of substance to shake things up, but they didn't really ever have
03:51the health or the figuring out. And now you have a point where, all right, these are, none of these
03:58playing teams are, are super scary, but again, what, what is this going to lead to when you have to
04:03take on Detroit? You know?
04:06So I don't know. It's, it's definitely a different attitude than the past years. Cause I think last year was
04:11just zero faith. This is like, yeah, they could get through the play. And I wouldn't be surprised if they
04:17be, you know, this, I actually would be surprised to be the magic, but let's say the magic. Don't blow
04:22it in, in Philly. If they had to go beat Philly without Joel Embiid, they've had success against Philly. Philly
04:27and Charlotte are two teams. They've handled pretty well. They beat them, but then what?
04:32And I don't know how many people really want that, or they just want to go for ping pong balls.
04:36Well, here's, here's what I would say. Um, can you have a better record, but be a worse team? Um,
04:50I don't think they're a worse team than last year. I actually think they have more talent. I think the
04:54East, I think what made this year disappointing is how much, even if they were better, it was marginally better.
05:02And I think the East is better. And I think the East is better. And that's, that was my point
05:07is that every year is independent of the year surrounding it. And a lot of times we tend to just
05:17look at the record and not talk about the other stuff. So yeah, they have what? Six more wins. Yes.
05:27Six more wins. But in an Eastern conference where,
05:32a lot of other teams had substantially more growth is that, are you better? Because every, every team that was
05:42above you this year took a jump that you didn't take. If you were 37 wins last year, Orlando, Orlando
05:51is, was right. Well, they were, they were, they've been banged up too. They got kind of the same problem.
05:56Somebody has always heard on that team.
05:57Um, so from, from, from that standpoint, like it's each season is on a curve. Like you can't compare it
06:08to the season before simply because you got six more wins, but you're in the same spot. So
06:18you could say the team is better, but relative to what everybody else did in the conference that you're competing
06:25with. Not really.
06:27Well, like, I, I, I guess the point is like, whether they're better or they're worse, they're not much different.
06:32That's the, like, who cares?
06:34Right. Right. Well, yeah, that's, that's, and basically you found a different way to say the same damn thing, regardless
06:40of what the record is, regardless of where you are, right? You're in the same spot, which means that you
06:48haven't gotten better regardless of what the record is. I don't want to hear like we won six more games
06:54than we did last year.
06:56Yeah. I, but I'm telling you, I think from the standpoint, like, again, it's marginal, like it's loser behavior that
07:02I'm talking about nine, 10. Like I think where the team is now, if you told me, would you be
07:06more surprised? Like if I, where I was last year in my faith in the plane was zero, that they
07:13would win two road games this year. I'm not, I, I kind of wouldn't be, I wouldn't be surprised at
07:19all. If they beat both teams, I really wouldn't. Like, I think they have the capability. Go ahead, Brittany.
07:23Well, I think they're also just more talented on paper. They are more talented and any given night, they can
07:29beat anybody if they get it figured out.
07:32Yeah. I think the only problem is, is like the fit and the thing, and the thing that's really, the
07:39thing that is really, really surprising about the heat team is just the defensive collapse over the last three weeks.
07:45It's, it's unlike anything. It's like Eric's exposure. It's unlike anything this franchise has ever seen. And it's a little,
07:51it's not completely
07:53unexplainable because of the unexplainable because of some of the people that came back, but it was everybody. I mean,
07:57everybody was giving up a ton of points.
07:59So I used to, we used to have this in football and I'll see if I can like explain it.
08:07So whenever we would play when the Oilers, when Houston, when Tennessee was in Houston, right.
08:18Whenever we played them, we would go to two tight ends, one tight end, and we would pound the ball
08:27and we would do everything off of that. You know why?
08:30Because on their side of the ball, on their team, they didn't have a tight end on the roster because
08:37they did the run and shoot. And so it made them more difficult to defend teams that use the tight
08:47end because they never practice against one.
08:50And what I noticed with the Heat is when they tried to, the more they tried to do this up
08:58-tempo thing and outrun teams, they struggle on defense.
09:05And so I don't know if it's because of that, the run, run, run, run, run, run. You haven't, you
09:13know, dealt with defense all year really because you're facing each other that when you go play a team that
09:20does dribble handoff, that does half court offense, because you don't see it on a daily basis, like you were
09:26used to seeing, you have problems with it.
09:31Um, maybe, I don't know. I think there's something to, I think there's something to what you're saying. As far
09:37as like, I do think there was some letup from the team. Like when their offense isn't humming, I definitely
09:41think it's bled into their defense. Yes. And I think that they've, they have definitely because of the last three
09:48weeks where no role was really defined and everybody was kind of in and out and coming back.
09:55Like the one thing you can say about the wind streak when it was going on, it felt like everybody
10:00had finally found a niche, a role. And then Norm came back like the Norm Tyler thing. You know, I
10:07don't want to just blame them because I think both of them are good individual players.
10:12So I don't think that they're bum players. I just think it is a basketball chemistry nightmare because they both
10:20want to start. They both want to be the guy. They both want all the shots and it just doesn't
10:26work unless you have a game where they barrage you from three, which we've literally seen for one game this
10:31year.
10:33And it's not anybody's, it's not anybody's fault. They try like, again, what are the heat supposed to do when
10:39the heat are called in the, in the off season and told by the Clippers, you want a borderline all
10:45-star for slow-mo and Kevin love. What are you supposed to say? Nah, thanks. Like, what are you supposed
10:51to do? Of course, of course I want, of course I want an infusion.
10:55But the problem was, is we went the entire season, never figured it out because those two were like in
11:02different spider verses of each other. They never played with one another. When one was hurt, one was healthy. When
11:07one was healthy, the other was hurt. Like it was, it was crazy. And then when the, the games that
11:11they actually had to play together nightmare didn't work. And I, and I do think it had an effect on
11:16everybody else.
11:19So now you're in this situation where, all right, probably shouldn't bring either one of them back this year, unless
11:26there's some miracle run, which there won't be.
11:30Um, but I, I, it, and, and it's tough not to think that we're, we're looking here and looking at
11:36the two old late twins and being like, Hmm, that's not helping with the defense.
11:41And also they're all like, Oh, the communication's bad. I'm like, Oh, because everybody's in different roles. Nobody knows each
11:45other anymore.
11:46Sure. Shocking. Right.
11:51Tobin.
11:52Shreden says Tobin, it's science. A negative plus a negative equals.
11:55I mean, yeah.
11:58Like, I, I just kind of, if, even if it was wrong, right.
12:17Like, even if it wasn't the right combination, I think sometimes having consistency in what you're asked to do in
12:25your lineup helps you go out on, on the court and on the field, whatever it is and perform.
12:32That's the thing with Charlotte.
12:34You look at teams like Charlotte, OKC, San Antonio.
12:37Yes.
12:38They have very talented players, but they also, everybody knows their role.
12:42Like, you know, who's coming in.
12:45Oh, first here comes so-and-so you, you just, you, you know, and I think the only thing you
12:51don't know is when LaMelo ball is going to pull up because it could literally be from anywhere.
12:55Right. And so the problem with the Heat is, is that, and I've experienced this as a player, it's more
13:04frustrating when you don't know when you're going to play than what your actual role is going to be when
13:13you play.
13:14Right. And, and, and so, and we've had this turmoil in the lineup all year for whatever reason to the
13:24point where if you'd have just had the same five guys start every game or 50 of the games, good,
13:32bad, or indifferent, I think you could coach around that.
13:36Yeah. But Spoh spent the whole year with the injuries and everything trying to figure out who could play with
13:43what, and now we're Tennessee.
13:45Yeah.
13:46And still, does anybody know on that team, besides Bam, what their role is?
13:55So you have 14 other guys on the roster, and the only guy who really knows what their role is,
14:03is Bam.
14:03Yeah. But here's the one thing I would say to not put on Spoh, because I don't think it's on
14:07him.
14:08Like, I do think you need players who embrace it. And I think that if you told Pella, what's your
14:12role? Doesn't matter. I'm going to find ways to win.
14:14If you told Jaime, what's your role? I'm going to find ways to win.
14:17Yep.
14:17I do think that you got to have, like, if you're going to have Norm and Tyler out there and
14:23there's a, well, I want to start. I want to be on the bench.
14:26I don't care.
14:27Like, you got to embrace whatever it is. And I just don't think that it's, even like.
14:30You got to be a big boy. You're the coach. You're trying to win games.
14:34Even Norm looking the way that he did the last game, where he started to physically look a little bit
14:38better.
14:38Even he had, like, a little, out the door goes, doing the most with the minutes I'm given. I'm like,
14:44all right, dude.
14:45Okay, then guess what? If you think about the heat.
14:51And they've both done that, by the way. They've both done that pouty.
14:54Right. No, no, no.
14:54They've both done that, oh, I have to, like, Tyler did the two.
14:57But, but, again, and I don't know if this is just a basketball thing, but damn your feelings.
15:08If I'm the coach, I'm the organization, I'm trying to win games. Okay?
15:13Like, no, we didn't, we didn't ask you not to play defense.
15:19But because neither one of you do to the level we need, now we got to make some decisions.
15:26You had a decision. You had a choice.
15:29You know what? I ain't asking you to be the glove.
15:33But I'm asking you not to be the Olay twins.
15:35And then don't get your feelings hurt when you're on the bench because you're not.
15:40I like it. It's, it's, look, when you want to win, you can't care about people's feelings.
15:52You have to do what you feel is best for the Miami Heat if you're a spook.
15:58Don't care about feelings.
16:01But he's getting, yeah, everybody, he want everybody to feel good.
16:05And, and, and, and, and, like, yeah.
16:08And they don't, like, what do they, and then you go to them and ask them about the defense.
16:15We need to be locked in. We need to be, no, we need to stop the ball.
16:19We need to be, no, we need to be, no, we need to stop the ball.
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