Zach Lowe for ESPN canvassed Association execs for lessons learned from the "Heat's" unreal playoff run:

What if the Heat’s run was proof that in the era of load management, 3-point shot variance, and the play-in tournament, the regular season now mattered much less?

 

A sports league that plays 82 games just to winnow the title contenders from 30 to 16 and then has an 8-seed make it through three rounds all the way to the championship round, such a league, the NBA, loses credibility with fans who it asks to pay for those 82 meaning-diminished games. That is a real problem.