bounceback against the 76ers<\/a>, there assuredly was a degree of horrible this time around, first allowing a franchise record 149 points to the Cleveland Cavaliers last Friday at Rocket Arena and then falling Sunday to the NBA-worst Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.<\/p>\nBut, still, nothing like 10 consecutive losses a year ago, the Heat going from March 5 until March 21 without a victory last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike last year, at this time of year, it\u2019s a lot of teams, not just us, fighting for a certain thing,\u201d said forward Andrew Wiggins, who, like Mitchell, arrived in February 2025 at the NBA trade deadline in the Butler deal. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a competitive last stretch that every team has, and everyone wants to come out on top.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was last year, but that\u2019s what we\u2019re working toward. We know what we can do. We know what we\u2019ve got to do to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s skid led to a 37-45 record. This year, it never got that bad, with last season\u2019s win total in the rearview mirror amid this homestand that closes Saturday against the Washington Wizards, in the Heat\u2019s penultimate home game of the regular season.<\/p>\n
The next goal is to one-up last season at least in terms of play-in seed. At No. 10 at the start of last year\u2019s play-in round, it meant having to win twice without a loss just to get into the playoffs, a feat accomplished first with a decisive road victory over the Chicago Bulls, followed by a harrowing overtime road victory over the Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n
This year, there still is time to potentially get to the Nos. 7-8 play-in game, which would afford two chances for a single win needed to advance to the best-of-seven opening round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
While the Heat already have addressed plans for postseason tickets, another No. 10 finish potentially could mean no more 2025-26 action at Kaseya Center after that April 12 regular-season finale against the visiting Hawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel like we\u2019re better than what we\u2019ve been the last two weeks,\u201d Spoelstra said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur backs are against the wall. Everybody knows what the deal is. We need everybody in that locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n
NBA Play-In Tournament<\/p>\n
When: April 14-17.<\/p>\n
Format: No. 10 in each conference plays at No. 9, with the loser eliminated and seeded into the NBA draft lottery based on regular-season\u00a0 record.<\/p>\n
In that same opening round of the play-in, No. 8 in each conference plays at No. 7, with winner of that game receiving the No. 7 playoff seed and facing the No. 2 playoff seed in the best-of-seven opening-round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
In a last-chance game, the loser of the Nos. 7-8 game hosts the winner of the Nos. 9-10 game, with the winner of that matchup facing the No. 1 playoff seed in the best-of-seven opening-round of the playoffs. The loser of that game is seeded into the NBA draft lottery based on regular-season record.<\/p>\n
Presumptive matchups: Detroit is expected to be the No. 1 seed in the East, with Boston as the No. 2 seed. If the Heat finish the regular season at No. 9 or No. 10 in the East, the only possible playoff matchup would be at the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n
Television: All play-in games are exclusively streamed on Prime Video. There is no FanDuel Sports coverage of the Heat beyond the regular season.<\/p>\n
Playoffs: The best-of-seven opening round of the playoffs begins April 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 The Heat have been here before, and not only from the vantage point of another trip…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,165,189,6,678,207,3817,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-692077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","15":"tag-philadelphia76ers","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116330142609261284","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}