This never adds up. Never. The Miami Heat had a strong win in Houston on Friday before not showing up to the start of a season-defining game in Indiana on Sunday.
I have read that before, that they started slowly without energy or intention at the beginning of the Indiana game--and that was the game.
That folds into a recent stretch where they’ve blown out five teams by double figures but lost ultra-important games against Philadelphia and now Indianapolis that were within a bucket’s reach in the final seconds.
And now have won one, on the night that this column was written, in double overtime that was nearly lost to a Dejounte Murray three at the end of the first OT!
No, it never adds up. Every sign of possibility is met by a night of annoyance. Every step toward success seems to set up a disappointment.
...Is only a favorable playoff matchup in a spotty Eastern Conference standing in the way of landscape-making moves?
Riley often talks of teams in five-year eras, and this spring represents five years of a core of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro playing together. Riley was asked this preseason what he’s asked at various other five-year increments in his Heat time: Is this working?
It’s worked well enough for two NBA Finals and three Eastern Conference finals trips in the past four years. ...
Still, there comes a time to ask, as the Heat do, if a championship is a viable option on this group’s timeline.
...
The real question for the Heat is Butler as this spring plays out. He wasn’t engaged in the regular season again. His postseason performances make up for that. Now he’s up for a two-year, minimum $100 million contract extension that would take him to age 38.
Are the Heat up for that?
Finally, you can’t ignore how nothing normal applies again to their season. With their sporadic, on-and-off play, how can you guess what they’ll do next?
...
A spring ago, the Heat had many of these same riddles and collected themselves for a surprising run to the Finals. Maybe they collect themselves over these final four regular-season games and have another good run. If not, add up everything that doesn’t add up and get ready. It looks like we’re approaching the end of a good Heat era.
