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Greg Cote: More 'Playoff Jimmy' and another Heat postseason miracle way too much to ask ... right?

Greg Cote, Miami Herald on

Published in Basketball

MIAMI — Championship banners and expectations are raised to commensurate heights, and so it is a compliment to the Miami Heat — to this franchise’s pedigree of accomplishment — to say this team enters the playoffs after an ordinary-to-disappointing regular season and without much hope of a deep run.

Hmm. Sounds familiar. We thought that and said it one year ago, when Miami also was relegated to a play-in tournament, the NBA’s version of you don’t quite belong but you can earn your way in. A month of miracles ensued as Miami took a machete to long odds and slashed all the way to the Finals.

Do you believe in miracles ... again?

With no other team in this market is playoffs the starting point, the very bare minimum we expect.

This is the Heat’s 24th postseason in 36 years, a 66.7% ratio. Take away the first three expansion years and it’s 72.7% . Those 24 postseasons have produced seven NBA Finals appearances and championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013. (It has been awhile, Heat. Tick-tock ...)

By comparison, the Miami Dolphins’ playoffs percentage is 42.4% (25 of 59), the Florida Panthers’ is 33.3% (10 of 30), and the Miami Marlins’ is 12.5% (four of 32).

 

But this Heat team fashioned a middling 46-36 regular-season record largely owing to sporadic injuries to key players spawning inconsistency, and unusual mediocrity (22-19) on the home court.

Now that is Jimmy Butler’s positive spin on Miami’s play-in opener Wednesday night being in Philadelphia.

“That’s a question that I don’t have the answer to. I wish we played better at home,” he said after Sunday’s home win left the Heat the No. 8 seed in the East. “I don’t know. Whenever we get on the road, our back [is] against the wall a little bit. I guess we get out of our comfort zone, and then we really start making things happen. So I’m actually kind of glad we’re on the road.”

Unfortunately, this road finds the No. 7-seed 76ers on a scorching 8-0 run since Joel Embiid’s return from midseason left knee surgery. Averaging 34.7 points, Embiid likely would be collecting a second straight league MVP trophy if not for 29 missed games.

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