MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 121-115 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks:
– For a team that only recently snapped a 10-game losing streak, this might come off as wishful or even hubris.
– But the Heat cannot lose another game the balance of their regular season.
– Not if they want to make a statement in the play-in round.
– Not if they want to maximize their positioning in that round.
– Granted, only four regular-season games remain.
– But then consider those games.
– A 76ers team desperate to lose.
– A Bulls team the Heat need to beat for seeding.
– A Pelicans team playing to lose.
– A Wizards team playing to lose.
– The loss at the buzzer to the Grizzlies on Thursday night hurt.
– Then Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks arrived on Saturday night.
– With the Heat having to go without sidelined Tyler Herro.
– A challenge tougher than the Heat will face the rest of the way not only during the regular season, but also in the play-in round.
– Which means from here on out, until the playoffs, they need to be a can’t-lose team.
– Heat coach Erik Spoelstra stressed before the game that what matters at the moment is his team playing games with meaning.
– “It’s fun right now,” he said. “Our guys are having a lot of fun. The games mean something, they’re competitive. Lately it’s bringing a better version out of our group collectively. And you can find purpose from where we are right now.”
– Of course, that meaning is coming in the play-in race.
– “Just because it’s not exactly where you want to be in the standings doesn’t mean that you have to think less than because of where we think we should be,” Spoelstra continued. “These games have a great feel to ’em. They’re competitive and if you’re a competitor, then this is what you want, this is what you live for.”
– He added, “We’re trying to do what we do that leads to winning more consistently.”
– Spoelstra said it is a point of the year where the scouting report is somewhat secondary.
– “The most important thing for us, at this point of the year, with our group, is trying to do what we do that leads to winning,” he said.
– With Herro out, the Heat opened with a lineup of Kel’el Ware, Bam Adebayo, Alec Burks, Pelle Larsson and Duncan Robinson.
– It was the Heat’s 26th lineup.
