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The Miami Heat are limping down the stretch into the playoffs. The team has lost three games in a row and currently sits in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings on Friday.
Miami lost to three teams in playoff contention: the Raptors, the Nets, and the Knicks. They has five games remaining, three of which are on the road. Miami will play three teams not in playoff contention before the playoffs begin.
The Heat has been known for their sluggish, defensive first games this season and is last in the league in scoring with 108.7 points per game. However, they are second in the league in points allowed and 109.8 ppg by opponents. They allowed the Nets to score 129 points in a blowout loss on Saturday.
The Heat are led by coach Eric Spoelstra, who has a reputation as one of the best minds in the NBA. He came from the video department and is known for his in-game adjustments.
Miami is one of the few teams that utilizes a zone defense at times to disrupt opposing offenses. Butler has also struggled as of late. He has averaged 22.6 ppg, and is shooting 52.9% from the field this season.
During the Heat’s latest losing streak, Butler only scored 18 points on six of 13 shooting against the Nets, and dropped a mere 12 points on five of ten shooting in the loss to the Knicks. He also sat out against the Raptors.
Miami is 1.5 games out of sixth place and avoiding the play-in tournament. On Miami’s defense, Butler said:
“We mess up a lot. We kind of be making up stuff on the fly. We don’t know our coverages. It’s not on any one guy because everybody should be communicating down the line”
It was even worse as the Knicks were without star Julius Randle down the stretch in Miami’s nine-point loss to New York. The Heat were outscored 25-16 in the fourth quarter of that game.
Miami was the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last season but is struggling. Non-star players Gabe Vincent and Max Strus led the team in scoring in two of their previous games, not a good sign during a time when you need your stars to shine.
