Miami Heat(Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Miami Heat will officially be in the play-in.

OK, I see that I have been stopped. But that’s because the Heat have now officially clinched a play-in berth for the fourth-straight year as a result of their 121-95 loss to the Toronto Raptors. As a result, they became only the third team in NBA History to appear in the play-in four times, let alone four-straight.

Miami is 4-2 in play-in games and was the first team in the tournament’s history to win two-straight on the road to advance to the postseason, besting the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls.

Atlanta and Chicago frequently accompanied the Heat in the play-in in the past. Though both will (likely) miss it this year. Chicago is already eliminated from playoff contention, while the Hawks, currently the No. 5 seed, are two games up on the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 7 seed.

The Bucks eliminated themselves from the play-in conversation two weeks ago, automatically gifting the Heat a play-in bid, at minimum. Though they entered the week with the possibility of securing a top-5 seed, albeit a very slim one.

Evidently, that wasn’t the case.

Against the other three teams currently positioned to appear in the play-in, Miami is 5-7. It took three of four from Charlotte and two of three from Philadelphia, but it went a dismal 0-5 against the Orlando Magic, with four losses in the regular season and one in the Emirates Cup knockout stage.

The Heat went 7-12 against the East’s top-6. They are also just 21-30 against teams with a .500 or better record, while they’re 20-8 against the inverse. Their 21-30 record is the second-worst among the top-10 in the East (Philadelphia is 18-32) and the 15th-best in the NBA.

Heat will have another game in Toronto Thursday before closing their final three-game road trip of the season against the Washington Wizards on Friday, their final back-to-back of the season.

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