Observations and other notes of interest from Tuesday night’s 116-105 NBA play-in loss to the Atlanta Hawks:
– All those clutch games within five points in the final five minutes?
– All those games decided on the final possessions?
– All those nights when it was Jimmy Butler to the rescue?
– Through it all, it became evident that the margin of error for this team was razor thin.
– Then came the immediate foul trouble at the outset Tuesday.
– And then the shots that wouldn’t drop.
– And then the undersized lineups that couldn’t measure up.
– So now this: Now one final chance to make this season right on Friday night.
– Beat the winner of Wednesday night’s game between the Bulls and Raptors and move into the best-of-seven first round as a No. 8 seed.
– Or go into a dark, dark, dark offseason.
– If nothing else, this was sobering.
– A sobering reality of what this roster is not.
– Not big enough.
– Not athletic enough.
– Not consistent enough from beyond the arc.
– No, Kevin Love and Cody Zeller are not the next big things.
– As Tuesday’s rebounding showed.
– So can Butler muster one more night of magnificence?
– Is the Kyle Lowry revival real?
– Or will the talk of management malfeasance begin in earnest?
– No, not what was expected after the regular-season series against the Hawks and last season’s playoffs.
– But this certainly is not the same team as during last season’s playoffs.
– The Heat opened their postseason where the ended the regular season, opening Tuesday with their primary lineup of Bam Adebayo, Max Strus, Butler, Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent
– That lineup went 3-0 during the regular season.
– Herro was called for his second foul with 7:19 left in the opening period, with coach Erik Spoelstra leaving him in the game.
– Strus then was called for his second foul with 6:15 to play in the opening period, which put the Hawks into the bonus.
– That is when Lowry entered as the Heat’s first reserve, for Herro.
– Caleb Martin followed next off the Heat bench, for Vincent.
– Love then made it eight deep.
– With Victor Oladipo getting an opportunity at the start of the second period, having rarely played in recent weeks when Lowry was available.
– It reached the point of even a Zeller cameo in the first half.
– Asked pregame if it felt like a Game 7, Spoelstra said, “It doesn’t matter. It’s good competition and it’s a first-time experience for us.”
– Friday might feel that way.
– Hawks coach Quin Snyder stressed pregame there is no shame in being in the play-in tournament.
– “I don’t consider it a failure to be in the play-in,” he said. “I think expectations at any given time, whether it’s at the beginning of the season, in season, even in the postseason, you see teams that aren’t picked to win that win. So I think being focused on the present, which in our case is the play-in, is the best way to make the most of that.”
– He added “You can call it the play-in or you can call it the postseason. Nobody’s really angry they got in the NCAA Tournament.”
– Snyder said he felt no need to delve deeply into the Heat’s 4-1 victory over the Hawks in the first round of last season’s playoff, when Atlanta was coached by Nate McMillan.
– “There’s certainly things that Miami does consistently every year,” Snyder said. “It’s what makes them an elite program. They have that commitment on the defensive end, their ability to help one another, how hard they play. So those things are pretty consistent. You don’t have to go back to watch last year to see that.”
– He added that by Tuesday the Hawks knew all that needed to be known about the Heat.
– “Jimmy Butler’s still pretty good,” he said. “Herro, you still have to guard him in pick-and-roll and pin-downs and handoffs and play through the possession clock. I can go on about Bam, too. And I’ve said this before, Spo’s one of the elite coaches in the league. They’re always prepared and they’re always good in these situations.”
– Among those in attendance was Hornets forward Cody Martin, identical twin of the Heat’s Caleb Martin.
– Members of FAU’s Final Four team were in attendance and introduced during the third quarter.
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