There’s a good chance that you’re only reading this because the Miami Heat upset the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
While that doesn’t make you all quitters, the Heat fan base has been ready to pull the plug on this season more often than they’re probably willing to admit.
Who is in this draft again? It’s pretty deep, right?
There’s no question the 2024-25 season has been frustrating. Jimmy Butler checked in and out before ultimately making sure he got out. Mix in all the disheartening collapses, often stacked one after another, and it’s often been a chore to be part of Heat nation in 2024-25.
Unless it doesn’t lose again for the rest of the regular season, Miami will finish with a losing record. Still, after blowing out the Celtics 124-103 to win a season-best sixth straight game, that no longer seems impossible.
Oddsmakers made a Heat squad missing Andrew Wiggins and Duncan Robinson a double-digit underdog even with the Celtics missing Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Al Horford.
Even after Miami surged to a 59-45 halftime lead and got up 71-49 just over two minutes into the second half, the Heat have conditioned their fans to be pessimists.
When the Celtics cut that 22-point deficit to 77-74 in just 5:14, anyone who wanted to turn in early to avoid the latest meltdown would’ve been within their rights. It looked like the same sad tear-jerker of a movie airing again, and it made it even worse that the Celtics were going to be the ones twisting the knife.
Instead, seemingly everyone Erik Spoelstra turned to made plays to stave off Boston, ending a run of six straight losses against the defending champs that dated back to last April’s first-round series.
Wiggins and Robinson should be back before the regular season ends. Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson, invaluable down the stretch at TD Garden, will now have more opportunities to become fan favorites in meaningful home games on Thursday and Saturday against the Grizzlies and Bucks.
Scoreboard watching can now be meaningful. The Hawks lost to the Mavericks less than an hour after Miami’s win, so the Heat are just one game behind them and 1.5 games back of Orlando.
The NBA released the play-in schedule on Wednesday. The East’s 7 and 8 seeds square off for the right to battle Boston on April 15. The next night, the 9-10 game will be played. The loser of the play-in opener will play the winner of the April 16 elimination game two nights later, on a Friday. Facing the Cavs is the “reward.”
No one would blame you if the Heat exhausted your will to see them compete in this year’s play-in round. A 10-game losing streak will do that. The Heat remained a lock for the postseason throughout most of March’s misery only because the other Eastern Conference’s bottom-feeders opted to tank.
Yes, the 2025 NBA Draft is loaded with young talent. However, rookies Kel’el Ware and Pelle Larsson have become key contributors over the past few weeks and will benefit from meaningful April basketball. Even before beating the Celtics, head coach Erik Spoelstra was already planting the seed of why what his team is going through is important.
“Look, you never want to be so cynical that none of this matters,” Spoelstra said to reporters in Boston in his pre-game availabilty. “There’s a flip side to this. Just only playing for ping-pong balls is not a great existence.
“Are we where we had planned to be as an organization? No, but there is great competition now league-wide. And when you have something to play for as an organization, it’s fun and it matters still.”
Because the Heat stunned the Celtics, more fans are likely to buy in. Miami didn’t blow another double-digit lead. Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro responded with big buckets. The Heat beat a Celtics team that went 14-1 in March. They handed Boston its worst home loss of the season.
Miami’s next three games are down at Kaseya Center. Taking care of business at home would allow the Heat to enter the season’s final week with a shot at the Southeast Division title.
There’s no escaping the play-in round, but there’s a legitimate shot at the No. 7 seed. Miami may get stuck playing the Celtics in the first round again, but that would beat being eliminated after a game or two. The Heat could again be the last team in as the eighth seed and get swept by the Cavs, but that’s also better than the alternative.
It’s fun to have hope. By winning in Boston, Miami supplied some more for the die-hards, keeping its unlikely run alive. If you read this far, you’ve already bought back in.
The draft can wait. June 25 is pretty far away.
Tony Mejia is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at [email protected]
