Following their humiliation at home against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, the Miami Heat defeated the Toronto Raptors, 125-103, at the Kaseya Center on Friday night because to a potent offensive performance that included 37 assists on 45 made shots.
The Miami Heat now have an opportunity to avoid the play-in round thanks to some outside assistance from two other teams.
But winning isn’t enough on its own. The Heat’s slender hopes of avoiding the play-in tournament were dependent on their ability to support outside assistance. The Heat now have a chance to sneak into the top six of the Eastern Conference after the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Indiana Pacers.
In addition to Miami’s requirement to defeat Toronto once again on Sunday, the Heat also need the Milwaukee Bucks to overcome the Magic and either the 76ers or the Pacers to lose at home to the Atlanta Hawks or the Brooklyn Nets.
Damian Lillard was rested by the Bucks during their Friday night loss to Oklahoma City. The Bucks must win to maintain their second-seed position, though, as the Knicks’ victory over the Nets has left them with the identical record. Should they lose to the Chicago Bulls, who have already clinched the ninth slot, they would drop to the third spot.
It would be interesting to see if Doc Rivers chooses to play it safe and rest Lillard in order to make sure he is healthy come playoff time, with Giannis Antetokounmpo already out for the remainder of the regular season and likely losing more time.
Conversely, given that the Atlanta Hawks have already secured the tenth seed, it would be surprising to see Quin Snyder start his starters given that their ranking is unaffected by the Pacers in the regular season finale. The Pacers’ losses to a couple teams below.500, including the Portland Trail Blazers twice, the Toronto Raptors, and most recently the Brooklyn Nets, provides a small bright spot for the Heat. Even if they go into the game shorthanded, Miami is hopeful that the Hawks can add the most significant defeat to that list.
In the final game of the Heat’s fan schedule, the Brooklyn Nets just gave the New York Knicks everything they had, starting an eight-man rotation that included Cam Thomas and Nic Claxton, who each played more than 35 minutes. Mikal Bridges only played for 24 minutes, but he too participated.
Brooklyn’s continued use of their finest players is encouraging, although it’s unclear if that was their final game of the 2023–2024 season after they were eliminated from the playoffs a few weeks prior. The Nets should choose to play spoiler against the 76ers, who swept the Nets in the 2023 postseason, hopefully for the benefit of the Heat.
With just one game remaining, Miami has no time to dwell on the past. They are prepared to play any team in any situation. They can reflect on many games that they wish they could go back and revisit.
Bam Adebayo declared, “We’re just going to take it one game at a time.” “We’re going to play Sunday, and then we’ll figure out the rest.”
