Miami Heat: The silver lining with Miami’s schedule

The Miami Heat have finally crossed that bumpy road, for now. Will the next relatively easy couple of games help them get back in the groove?

This has been a weird rollercoaster of a start for the Miami Heat. A season filled with very high expectations slowly turned into ugly, more realistic outcomes. The team had filled out that blueprint last year and they honestly made it seem as if they were back on track. They added solid role players in the offseason and maintained that core group, what more was missing?

Well, right off the bat, the team rode into the year with a sense of confidence that slowly started diminishing after their opening week. They seemed lost again and the 30-11 team we had witnessed turning it around is now submerging into that horrible 11-30 team fans had hoped never to see again.

Dark times are here at 5-6, but not all is bad.

Despite that negativity, Heat fans should see that clear silver lining among those dark clouds. It all starts with how the schedule is shaping up and the upside of these losses. The Heat are losing to better teams at the moment. It’s the plain truth. These six losses have come at the hands of better playoff contenders. Four of those teams are ranked in the top three of their respective conferences, with only the Denver Nuggets at the bottom of the ranks — and that was only a one point loss.

There’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel. A tunnel that shouldn’t cause panic. At least not yet.

All these tough losses have been extremely close games.

Miami Heat

With the exception of the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, both former NBA champions, every outcome has under 10 points. The Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves games both came down to the wire, with the latter finishing in overtime.

With those tough but close games out of the way, the Heat now have something to look forward to.

After a solid road win over the Phoenix Suns (126-115), Miami has a somewhat relatively easy schedule that should bode well for them to get back over .500. Their next five games — three away and two back at home — are against teams Miami can overcome: the struggling Wizards that are now at an even .500 at 5-5, the out-of-contention Indiana Pacers now sitting 11th in the East after four straight losses and a tough but beatable Detroit Pistons team that has surprised this year.

This Heat team has already faced the tougher Western and Eastern Conference teams that they now have the experience and strategy to ride out that wave and rise from that slump.

Remember, this isn’t a bad team, just a rotation switch away from being an Eastern contender. They missed the playoffs last year by one game and had a better record in the second half of the season. This year, as soon as they right that ship, they can find a way to sneak into a top-five spot in the East.

Next: 2017-18 Week 4 NBA Power Rankings

Patience will be their true test, but after this rough start that can be easily turned around, expect (and hope) the Heat will get back to their roots like they did at the end of last year.