MIAMI — After five games out west, the Miami Heat next return to a familiar neighborhood over the next five games of their schedule.

Next door is Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley doing some yard work, with Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder across the way washing his car, and Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan in the street clearing some leaves.

Last year, those three teams joined the Heat and coach Erik Spoelstra in the win-or-go-home play-in round for teams Nos. 7-10 in the Eastern Conference. And there again Tuesday morning stood those four teams in the current East play-in bracket, as if preordained to have to fight their way into the playoffs through the pre-playoffs.

In two of the past three years, the Heat and Hawks have met in the play-in, with the Heat and Bulls having met in each of the last three play-ins.

So Wednesday night, it’s Heat-Magic at Kaseya Center. The following three games, it’s Heat-Bulls. And in the Heat’s final game before next week’s NBA trading deadline, it’s Heat-Hawks.

Play-in preview week? It might feel that way (albeit granted that the Heat also awoke Tuesday one percentage point out of No. 5).

“I’ll say this,” Spoelstra said, “we want to be better than where we are right now. And that’s to every person in the locker room. But we have to chip away at it. We have an opportunity. But we can’t wait.”

Or else? Another play-in fate.

To refresh — as if the Heat’s fanbase is not already more than familiar — while the teams with the six best records in each conference advance directly to the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs, teams Nos. 7-10 have to earn their way in. The conference’s No. 7 hosts No. 8, with the winner becoming the No. 7 playoff seed. The loser of that game hosts the winner of No. 10-at-No. 9 game for the No. 8 playoff seed.

The Heat have advanced each of the past three years out of the play-in round, entering at No. 7 in 2023, No. 8 in 2024 and No. 10 last season.

It is a harrowing path the current roster would just as soon avoid, making these upcoming games all the more meaningful.

“I mean, you just don’t want to be taking that chance anymore,” said center Bam Adebayo. “When you’ve been there before, it’s not a great place because everybody else gets an extra week of rest.

“So it’s like you really want to fight for that extra week because that can change somebody’s trajectory in the playoffs.”

After advancing to the 2023 NBA Finals out of the play-in round, the Heat’s the past two seasons have advanced out of the play-in round with only a single resulting playoff win (in 2024 against the Boston Celtics, swept out of last season’s opening round by the Cleveland Cavaliers).

Adebayo said it’s not as if the Heat are hoping to exhale, “We’re No. 6!” So he said he is not overly concerned with the seedings at the moment.

“Nah, we’ve got to worry about ourselves,” he said. “So when you start worrying about somebody else and what somebody else is doing, that’s how you get off track.”

Only Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Nikola Jovic have been with the Heat through the previous three trips to the play-in.

But even with just two trips, forward Jaime Jaquez recognizes it hardly is a desirable neighborhood.

“We don’t want to be fighting through the play-in again.” Jaquez said. “We want to have our spot solidified and sealed. And to do that, we’ve got to win some games. We’ve got to go into All-Star on a high note.

“I mean, we want to be first, obviously. That’s kind of like obviously what you want, what you strive for. Obviously, that’s not where we’re at right now. But we do know at the end of the day, when you’re a top-six seed, you get an automatic pass into the playoffs. That’s what we’ve got to keep fighting for.”