MIAMI (AP) -There was a certain irony to the scene on Miami practice court Tuesday: Coach Erik Spoelstra spent nearly an hour watching the Heat – with his back to the wall.
It wasn’t long ago that his team was in the same position.
At the end of February, the Heat were two games under .500 and not even assured of a playoff berth. Since the calendar flipped to March, the Heat are among the hottest teams in the NBA, winners of 14 of their last 17 to vault up the Eastern Conference playoff standings. They’ll take an eight-game winning streak – the league’s best right now – into Wednesday’s home game with Philadelphia.
“We’ve been the same all year, win, lose or draw,” guard Dwyane Wade said. “We’re giddy and loud when we win. We’re giddy and loud when we lose.”
Oh, they were giddy and loud Tuesday, all right.
fired the basketball toward unsuspecting team assistant Roger Perez. Michael Beasley offered assistant coach David Fizdale a wager on whether he could swish a 3-pointer. And Spoelstra just soaked it all in, clearly more at ease now than he was a few weeks ago.
“The real impact is when guys really start to believe,” Spoelstra said. “And that can take defense to a whole another level, with the effort, but the belief. That’s what we’re starting to see these last few weeks.”
Since March 1, Miami’s 14-3 record was tied with Orlando and Cleveland for the best in the NBA. The Cavaliers had a chance to improve their mark when they hosted Toronto on Tuesday night.
And Miami’s surge has been directly tied to the defensive end.
“Winning makes you more confident,” Wade said.
The numbers bear that out.
The Heat entered Tuesday ranked atop the league in field-goal percentage defense and second in points per game allowed. Since March 1, the numbers have been even better.
Miami’s last 17 opponents have managed to shoot just 41.5 percent, 2.1 percentage points better than what Orlando – the second-best defensive team in that stretch – has yielded. The 90.4 points allowed by the Heat since March 1 also ranks as tops in the NBA, where 20 of the 30 teams have given up an average of 100 or more over the last five weeks.
we had a run like this in us. Just never could quite put it together, for whatever reason. Being able to put it together, it’s kind of gratifying, but at the same time we’re still hungry to get better and try to keep it going this way, not to get complacent.”
Given the way the schedule broke for Miami, that’s not an easy task.
The final eight Heat opponents will all miss the playoffs. But during this stretch that saved Miami’s season, the Heat have also defeated the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks – who could be the Heat first-round opponent for the second straight year.
“A win is a win,” Haslem said. “They’re all NBA players. How we get them is how we get them. It’s very important to keep it going, keep our groove on defensively going into the playoffs and just staying in it mentally, making sure we keep this spot that we’re in right now. It’s still so close right now, a couple games can change things.”
True, though the most realistic scenarios have Miami and Milwaukee jostling for the No. 5 and No. 6 spots in the East, with Boston and Atlanta vying to be No. 3 and No. 4.
“I don’t know who they play and I really don’t care,” Wade said. “We’ve just got to continue to get better.”
ew Jersey on April 14.
With just one more win in those five games, and the Heat would top last season’s 43-victory total.
To Haslem, that’s irrelevant. He sees the Heat as better – “significantly better,” he said – than they were just a few weeks ago, and that’s what matters.
“For whatever reason, we just couldn’t get it right,” Haslem said. “It’s coming together around the right time. If we had to plan it, we’d probably plan it to come together right now.”
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