Miami Heat: What They Need To Make The Playoffs

The Miami Heat have put themselves into a corner from which they now need to emerge from if they want to make the playoffs. This corner is an all out scrum with the Indiana Pacers (who have just gotten Paul George back) and the Brooklyn Nets.

A lot of this article presupposes that the Heat still want to make the playoffs, something that I have proposed that they should still continue to do.

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Even with all that has happened this season, the Heat are still in a position to make the postseason, which may or may not be an indictment on the structure of the playoff race. But the Heat are a lot better than people think, if they can stay healthy. That has been a real issue for them this season.

Hassan Whiteside and Dwyane Wade need to be on the court together along with Goran Dragic, where they can get into the lane and also have strong interior defense and offense.

If the Heat make the playoffs, they can challenge other teams. Wade has played really well as of late, averaging 24.5 points per game on 48 percent shooting in the month of April. This includes a 40-point game that he was able to muster up against the Detroit Pistons.

With a scorer like that who can use his craftiness to get into the paint, all you would have to do is surround him with some wing talent and the Heat have that with Luol Deng and Dragic.

That isn’t all they need though. They desperately need some luck from their stars and some teams to crumble in the last few spots. The Pacers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder yesterday and have the Washington Wizards and the Memphis Grizzlies left on their schedule.

There is no telling what could happen with this lineup, but that is a particularly tough schedule with some heavy rollers. The Grizzlies are incredibly big and have a point guard whom I believe to be amongst the top five point guards in the game in Mike Conley, though he is currently dealing with a foot injury. Miami needs the Pacers to lose out to all of these teams in order to surpass them.

But again, like most other things this season, Miami is going to need just a bit more. The team that occupies the eighth seed is the Nets. The Nets have a two-game lead on Miami, thanks to a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks yesterday. Their last two teams are against a good team and a bad one, which doesn’t fare well for the Heat.

Their first opponent is against the Chicago Bulls and then the Orlando Magic, who may just be playing for pride. Even though the Magic have surprised at times, and have some decent talent, they haven’t been able to carry it out through games. This is especially true of their defense.

Still though, the team has Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton along with Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic, who has been a double-double machine this season. Maybe the Magic will do their neighbors in South Beach a favor. Miami needs the Nets to lose out the rest of the two games remaining on their schedule.

Next: NBA: 10 Players Who Deserve More Appreciation

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What Miami Heat Need To Make The Playoffs

By Christopher Cruz | Apr 13, 2015

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