MIAMI — At times, such as these, when it’s either pull further together or fall further apart, the trust factor can weigh heavily.

To that end, as this 2025–26 Miami Heat season draws to a close, the trust factor appears to be wearing thin.

Thin to the degree that in Wednesday night’s blowout loss to the Boston Celtics at Kaseya Center, coach Erik Spoelstra seemingly only had  trust in six.

With the Heat, having chosen, as is their wont, to live in the moment, the developmental program seemingly has been placed on hold – at least on game nights.

With Nikola Jovic already out of the rotation, the latest to be put on hold is 2025 first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis, who for the second consecutive game on Wednesday night gave way to veteran Dru Smith in the rotation. In addition, limited action continued for 2024 first-round pick Kel’el Ware.

With a loss that almost assuredly locked the Heat into the play-in portion of the postseason schedule, Spoelstra showed a degree of faith limited to his starting lineup and sixth man Jaime Jaquez Jr.

The upshot is the team’s core being pushed to its late-season limit.

To wit, in Wednesday night’s loss, from a coach who all season stressed a depth of talent, Spoelstra played:

— Davion Mitchell 40:23.

— Tyler Herro 40:20.

— Bam Adebayo 37:51.

— Pelle Larsson 37:51.

— Andrew Wiggins 32:07.

— Jaime Jaquez Jr. 29:46.

That in the third game in four nights.

Beyond that scraps:

— Kel’el Ware 12:52.

— Simone Fontecchio 4:57.

— Dru Smith 3:53.

And in the second half, no Smith, no Fontecchio and 7:31 for Ware, with Adebayo playing all but 2:38 of the final two periods.

Granted, Norman Powell missed his third consecutive game due to an upper-respiratory illness, but still a compact mix in the wake of success when Spoelstra went 10 or even further deep during the best of times.

Over the last three games, Jakucionis has logged a total of 12:31 of action.

Over the last six games, Smith has logged a total of 14:03 of playing time.

Over the last six, Fontecchio has not gone more than 9:54 in any, after starting the previous two games.

And over the last three games, Ware has not exceeded 15:03 in any outing, after playing 20 or more minutes in each of the previous three.

As for Jovic, no action over the last six, despite being cleared to return from his back issue.

And those minutes come with Powell having missed the past three, his status in question for Saturday’s Heat return to action against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center, in their penultimate regular-season home game.

With the Heat 2-8 over their last 10, these assuredly are not the best of times, the loss to the Celtics dropping them to No. 10 in the East, the final play-in berth, one that requires two wins, both on the road, without a loss just to make the playoffs.

The long and short of it is that it could be a short rotation to end what already has felt like an unduly long season.

So now limited rotation and limited opportunity with five games left in the regular season.

“See if we can win all five, and then figure out whatever happens after that,” Adebayo said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time and whatever happens, happens at this point.”

So not good enough to set up a better finish when whole, and now going with something less when the games could mean even more.

“We need to play better,” Spoelstra understated ahead of the loss to the Celtics. “We understand that. We understand where we are. We understand what’s happened. We’re not oblivious to things.”

So now going with those he trusts most.

“We have great competitors,” Spoelstra said. “So look, there are some disappointing games of late, and you want your guys having that level of care factor and frustration and even anger, all of that.

“It means our guys really care about this. And we weren’t able to take advantage of a couple opportunities that we wanted to, but we still have an opportunity where we are. And we have to focus now on compartmentalizing and really just taking each game as an opportunity to take another step forward.”

After a bad misstep back, allowing 53 first-quarter points to the Celtics in the 147-129 loss that represented the second-highest opponent total in the Heat’s 38 seasons.

“Some nights are just not your night,” Herro said. “Right now is not the best time to not have nights that aren’t our night, so it’s not really an excuse.

“Win or lose, we still have to stay in the fight, stay in the saddle, and understand that we’ve got another game in a day. So we’ve got to be ready to go.”