Heat understands what’s at stake following All-Star break: ‘We have to make a push now’
With just less than two months left in the regular season, the Miami Heat knows it’s crunch time.
The Heat enters its game against the Toronto Raptors on Friday (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) at 25-28 with 29 games left in the season. That has Miami in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. Teams that finish between seventh and 10th in each conference take part in the NBA’s play-in tournament for the final two seeds in each conference for the NBA playoffs.
Miami is three games behind the Detroit Pistons for the No. 6 seed, the minimum threshold they would need to hit to avoid the play-in tournament.
“We have to make a push now,” guard Tyler Herro said. “Otherwise, it’s going to be too late. ... It can’t be in two weeks or three weeks. It has to be right now.”
Especially considering the way the Heat has played recently.
Miami dropped five of its final six games before the All-Star break and hasn’t strung together at least three consecutive wins since Jan. 7-11.
That trajectory will need to change fast if the Heat wants to keep itself in the playoff conversation.
“It’s not like we’re going to get everything together,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s not realistic. But we’re going to address the things that need to be addressed. That’s for sure. We have a group that is going to roll up their sleeves and work on the things that hopefully lead to winning.
“I think everybody’s just excited about this sprint, this final stretch,” Spoelstra added. “This is the time of year that everybody loves. The competitors really love it. Everything feels so much more intense. It’s a great time of the season.”
Home stretch
After the Heat finishes this road stretch, which continues after Friday’s game at Toronto with games at the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday and Atlanta Hawks on Monday, Miami will play 18 of its final 26 games at the Kaseya Center.
But before they can focus on that, Herro said the priority has to be taking care of business over these next four days.
“These next three are really important to be able to get back to .500,” Herro said. “Finish up that little road trip we have. [If we’re] .500 going into March, I think that’d be good to be able to get a lot of home games and try to build off that.”
All-Star reaction
Spoelstra made sure to pay close attention to Herro during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. Herro, an All-Star for the first time in his six-year NBA career, won the three-point shooting contest Saturday in addition to playing in the All-Star Game on Sunday.
Were there any nerves from the coach watching Herro perform? Not really.
“I was able to watch with a couple of cold beverages,” Spoelstra said. “I was just excited for him to be on that stage with a lot of eyeballs watching him. That’s typically is when he’s at his best,”
As for what Spoelstra thinks the three-point championship meant for Herro?
“It probably must have been very surreal,” Spoelstra said. “He had big aspirations coming into this league. He continues to have a strong ambition. I’ve always respected and wanted to honor his ambition. I told him that the very first time I met with him after the draft — that I would coach him, try to guide him and develop him to be able to accomplish some of the things that he wants to accomplish. But I think the best thing about this year is he came into this season just with a clear mind that he just wanted to help the team and fill a role, impact the game as much as he could possibly do it.”
Herro said his biggest takeaway from the All-Star Weekend was “really just soaking it all in.”
“Bam [Adebayo] told me was gonna be a hectic weekend, like just busy doing different things continuously every single day,” Herro said. “But I thought it was fun to be able to just be present, just be there with all the other great players [and] former players.”
Injury report
The Heat ruled out Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery), Isaiah Stevens (G League), Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League) and Kevin Love for Friday’s game in Toronto.
Herro is listed as probable with right shoulder soreness.
TV news
Jimmy Butler’s return to Miami will now be televised nationally, as TNT added the Heat’s March 25 matchup against the Golden State Warriors at Kaseya Center to its schedule. This game will no longer be televised by FanDuel Sports Network Sun.
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 3:15 PM.
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