Before Monday night’s pseudo-reassuring 123–100 win over a Kings team that didn’t have Domantas Sabonis or De’Aaron Fox, the Heat were stuck in a poorly timed free fall.
In between recent losses against the Sixers (without James Harden and Joel Embiid) and Knicks (without Julius Randle), last week Erik Spoelstra threw his clipboard in Jimmy Butler’s direction, a public meltdown that occurred during the third quarter of a game in which they had no answer for Warriors guard Jordan Poole. (Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson did not dress.) Then on Saturday, they were obliterated at FTX Arena by the Nets, at one point trailing by 37 points, their largest deficit of the season.
Every team goes through ups and downs during an 82-game regular season, and while this stretch doesn’t prohibit the Heat from winning it all (they’re still in first place!), it does illuminate a few glaring questions that, one way or another, will be answered in the playoffs. Here are the most important.
