(Photo via Imagn Images)
After their much recent blowout loss, the Miami Heat are now sporting a season-worst five-game losing streak— immediately after a season-best seven-game win streak.
This stretch of the Heat’s season has shown exactly what this team is; consistently inconsistent.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Miami emerged to tie for the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed. Now, they have dipped all the way down to 10th at a mediocre 38-34 record. They are a game out of seventh, two games out of sixth and 2.5 from the fifth, but they are simply running out of time. There’s just 10 games remaining in the regular season, and they will now face the task of a back-to-back set against the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road.
Cleveland has won seven of their last 10 and are at a 45-27 overall record as the fourth seed. They are also repping a new-look Cavs group after their trade deadline acquisition of former league MVP James Harden to pair alongside Donovan Mitchell in a star studded backcourt. Harden is averaging 21.2 points, 7.8 assists and 5.2 rebounds on efficient 49/46/82 shooting splits across 18 games for Cleveland.
The Heat are 1-1 so far against the Cavaliers this season, but both teams are different since their last November matchups. Miami will have a fully healthy roster for the second consecutive game, as coach Spoelstra still seeks to find some last minute chemistry with this group all together.
Can Miami pull off the upset and avoid their sixth straight loss? Let us know in the comments!
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- NOT YET SUBMITTED.
Miami Heat:
- Jahmir Young (g-league) — OUT
- Vlad Goldin (g-league) — OUT
- Trevor Keels (g-league) — OUT
- Terry Rozier (not with team) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- James Harden, G
- Donovan Mitchell, G
- Dean Wade, F
- Sam Merrill, F
- Evan Mobley, C
Miami Heat:
- Davion Mitchell, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Pelle Larsson, F
- Andrew Wiggins, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:30 PM EST
- TV: FanDuel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
Come back to Hot Hot Hoops at game time to join our GameThread and chat about the game live with other Heat fans!
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These games when we are healthy are the most revealing as to where we stand, i.e., how good are we? We learned that we don’t stack up well against one of the truly dominant teams. But, Cleveland is a step down from there, and maybe we can give them a decent game. I think we can. I think this game is going to be close and I wouldn’t be shocked if we got the w.
If anyone is looking for a possible bright spot…
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE FOR REMAINDER OF SEASON HIGHEST TO LOWEST
#4 Charlotte
#5 Atlanta
#13 Philadelphia
#15 Orlando
#18 Toronto
#19 Miami
Orlando, Charlotte and Miami are currently tied for 8th place 1.0 games behind 7th place Philadelphia, 2.0 games behind surging 6th place (9-1) Atlanta and 2.5 games behind 5th place Toronto. Making the playoffs will not be an easy task at all for the Heat. Getting out of the play-in round will not be easy either.
BACK TO REALITY
It seems more and more as each day passes, Miami needs to seriously think about blowing up the team and rebuilding. With teams like Indiana, Washington, Chicago and Milwaukee on the mend next season, it is very possible the Heat, as currently constructed, won’t even qualify for the play-ins in 2026-2027.
That could be true. And we may lose a couple of our best players. Next year could be a real crossroads year and it’s anybody’s guess at this time how it will go. One things for sure, if we don’t want to tank then Pat will have to have a very active and effective offseason. Or, he may have to pull a Giannis out of his hat.
pick powell or herro cant play both.same type player powells d better.tys suks.
Both were getting consistently burned by the Spurs and other teams. Without a top 5 defense, Miami has absolutely no chance of competing against winning teams.
Excerpts from today’s article in Yardbarker.
Why the Miami Heat Play Worse When Fully Healthy
Heat haven’t been fully healthy though for most of this season. Herro and Powell have both been available only 17 games of 72 and have played just 196 minutes together. That two man lineup is -5.1 but 200 minutes is very small amount/not enough to draw conclusions. Cleveland plays plenty of guards so these games should be a good indicator
You may be right. However, I don’t know how much longer Bam will be willing to carry the team on his back (both offensively and defensively) with no help at all coming from Riley. I think Bam is very frustrated and is one more play-in away from developing a negative attitude and requesting to be traded to a competitive (top 10) team. Who could blame him? Miami is 17-24 against winning teams this season. 7 of the Heat’s last 10 games are against winning teams, including Cleveland twice, Toronto twice, Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
Vegas probability to win ECF
BOS 34.5%
CLE 27.8
NYK 20
DET 13.3
PHI 3.2
CHA 3.2
MIA 2.9
ORL 2.8
TOR 2
ATL 1.3
(111% total)
Miami’s run & gun offense was very effective at the start of the season, while it’s defense has been, (until recently when it went to crap), near the top of the league most of the season.
With everyone now healthy, there is no reason the team can’t be as effective both ways as they have been all year. If they aren’t, that means there is something very wrong with the chemistry, effort and/or coaching.
I hope Spo doesn’t play Herro and Powell together. They are both easy for Cleveland to target as they did Herro during last year’s playoffs.
If push comes to shove, Spo should go with his best defensive players in crunch time, since the team has no real closer and has one way players that can be easily exploited.
I got them dropping both of these match ups, and mirroring the 7 game win streak.
Miami simply just isn’t talent enough. They’d have a championship roster if they had two super stars, a contender roster with one.
But as it is, a roster full of role players won’t cut it consistently.
If elephants had wings they could fly.
These games are winnable if Miami refinds its identity on defense. Cleveland is a worse defense (#14 this year, #20 since All star break) than anyone Miami has played in the last 5 (LAL is worse on the year but better than CLE since the ASB)
Kenny Atkinson on Cavs defense:
”I just told the team, if we’re going to play defense like this, we’re going to have a short playoff stint,” Atkinson said in response to a question about Donovan Mitchell and James Harden lighting it up on offense.
When asked what the biggest issue with the defense was, Atkinson again did not mince words. “The compete level, and then along with the compete level there’s an IQ level,” he said. “So if your compete level is not there defensively, you’re missing close outs, not understanding personnel, and that is the IQ part.”
“We’re going to find the guys that’ll defend,” Atkinson said. “When the playoffs come, we lean on that, who can guard their position, who is going to be a high-level defensive player. That’s what gets you into the rotation.”
https://www.fearthesword.com/cavs-news/47029/cavs-kenny-atkinson-cleveland-cavaliers-donovan-mitchell-evan-mobley-jarrett-allen-james-harden-orlando-magic
Also think Miami’s slide on defense (they are #18 since ASB) is more a product of injuries and opponent shooting than a real trend, and Ware’s minutes are the one real/major concern on defense
stat man have u watch ty guard.ty makes ware look like bill russell
Not buying that Ware is a better defender than Herro. Heat are -0.6 in Ware’s 1509 minutes and the #14 defense, and -1.9 in Herro’s 772 minutes and the #23 defense. But Herro has played only 25 games vs Ware’s 67. And according to pbpstats the Heat are worst at DREB% when Ware is on the court, slightly worse than w/ Herro (68.8% w/ Herro vs 68.5% w/ Ware)
This Cleveland team is more a Houston level team then SA or LAL, so Heat should be competitive most of the game. Still, its a better team.
We will see.