MIAMI – While the Miami Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, 117-105, to snap its two-game skid, the next contest will no doubt be a crucial one, especially with how the postseason could shape. As the Heat look to solidify their play-in tournament position, the next task for them is traveling to take on the Chicago Bulls as both teams are vying in the ninth and tenth spot and hope to maybe get to eighth.
While Chicago has the tiebreaker, Miami still has the chance to win out and gain position over them with a victory on Wednesday night. Head coach Erik Spoelstra would say after the win over Philadelphia that it will be “fun” as this time of the season reveals a player’s competitive nature as he predicts the contest to “feel like a playoff game.”
“I think it’s a lot of fun,” Spoelstra said. “Nobody in our locker room is cynical enough, you know, to think otherwise. You look at what’s going on in the Western Conference, four through eight, this is what the league is right now. So you’re not above it, and just embrace it and enjoy it. It’s gonna be a great night. It’s all about competition, and it’s going to feel like a playoff game, and that’s fun.”
Tyler Herro on “What’s at stake” for Heat on Wednesday
Despite the Heat missing Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins once again, the team led a collective effort to get the victory over the 76ers as it was needed coming off back-to-back heartbreaking losses. Returning from a one-game absence due to a thigh contusion, star Tyler Herro finished with 20 points on eight of 14 shooting from the field, two of four from deep, to go along with five rebounds and two assists.
He would say the team knows “what’s at stake” going into Chicago on Wednesday and spoke about the importance of getting a home game in the play-in tourney. If Miami finishes with the ninth seed, they would host the first game of two but would be on the road in both contests at the tenth spot.
While concluding at the eighth seed, the highest Miami can achieve, would have them on the road, a single win over the seventh seed grants them into the playoffs.
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“Oh yeah for sure, we know what’s at stake,” Herro said. “And you never know with these last couple games where we can end up in the standings, I think that it would be much harder to win two games in the play on the road, hopefully trying to get one at home.”
Heat’s Kel’el Ware on the home advantage in the play-in tourney
While the Heat want to take part in playoff basketball, the task at hand is winning out in the final three games of the regular season as besides the top stars, it will be a crucial time for rookie Kel’el Ware. Without Adebayo as said before, Ware stepped up with 19 points on eight of 16 from the field to go along with a whopping 17 rebounds as he spoke about the importance of winning in Chicago and gaining a home advantage in the play-in tourney.
“I mean it’s always good,” Ware said. “Especially since it’s my first season doing this, of course, where to get that home game for the first one, it’ll help the whole team with more confidence going to the next game. So you got to take every game seriously, you gotta stick together.”
At any rate, Miami is now 36-43 which puts them tenth in the Eastern Conference at the moment as they face Chicago on Wednesday. However, a game to watch will be the Bulls on Tuesday taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
