The Miami Heat have left the playoffs in 5 games against the Philadelphia 76ers. What was the problem? How is the season to be evaluated? What are Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside doing? SPOX answers the most important questions.
The Heat were the first East team to leave the playoffs – even though they fought a tough battle with the strong Philadelphia 76ers. As Sixth Seed, coach Erik Spoelstra’s men met a squad that had previously won 16 games in a row and had therefore entered the series as the clear favourite.
Nevertheless, the South Beach franchise was given outsider opportunities because the squad was more flexible than few others. But what the Heat couldn’t hide about the five games was the lack of star power. Goran Dragic is just a borderline all-star and Dwyane Wade is 36 years old. The advantages of the two players could be seen in cans, but especially in the fourth quarter Miami ran out of juice several times due to the lack of go-to-guys.
Wade stole game two in Philadelphia almost on his own, but subsequently played only a minor role. But the chances to make the series more balanced were definitely there. The Heat should have won Game 4 in particular, not least because the Sixers had made an incredible 26 ball losses. So Game 5 became a mission impossible for Miami, in the city of brotherly love there was nothing left to get.
Nevertheless, the Heat offered a sacrificial fight over the full series and represented a real test for the young Sixers troupe, which they passed with flying colours. It was bilious, it was tight, there were lots of little private duels. But as physical as Miami was, the Sixers wouldn’t let themselves be disturbed.
Especially for Joel Embiid, who missed the first two games of the series, the Heat had no solution. Despite three capable centers in Hassan Whiteside, Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk, the Cameroonian circles have never been properly contained. Although The Process scored only 41.7% from the field, they scored 18.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in the three games. On average, he was on the Charity Stripe eleven times per game and had a plus minus of +26 and a net rating of 11.0 over the series.
Page 1: What happened?
Page 2: What is the overall rating for the Heat season?
Page 3: How will the Heat deal with Hassan Whiteside?
Page 3: What else do the Heat do in the offseason?
Page 5: Continue Dwyane Wade