The Miami HEAT did what they needed to do and secured a victory over the Washington Wizards Wednesday night at the American Airlines Arena. However, their playoff fate wasn’t completely in their hands. Either the Pacers or the Bulls needed to lose, and with both teams facing opponents that were resting pretty much all their starters, there wasn’t a lot of hope that they would face either the Cavs or the Celtics, depending on who would be the #1 and #2 team.
As the night unfolded, the HEAT learned their fate. They have finished the second half of the season 30-11 and ended with a 41-41 record, but would still miss the playoffs. They were the first team since the ’08 Trailblazers to tally a 13-game win streak but would end up missing the postseason.
After the game, Erik Spoelstra spoke about his feeling that this team would’ve wreaked havoc in the playoffs. Goran Dragic agreed and went on to elaborate that he felt the HEAT would’ve been able to do some damage to and make the series an interesting 7 games if they had played the Celtics.
It was an emotional night for the HEAT, and the only damage done is to their season. Fortunately for the Celtics and the rest of the Eastern Conference, no one will ever know what this HEAT roster could’ve done in this year’s playoffs. The team who finished the back end of the season 30-11, who many dubbed the best team in the NBA in this time period, will never know what they could’ve done after all.