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The Miami Heat (22-20) dropped their second game in a row on Friday, losing 137-110 to the Indiana Pacers. Despite that, though, Bam Adebayo is not too worried.
“We were at the bottom of the East and we went to the four seed. We just lost two games. So we're OK. We're going to figure it out,” the Heat center said, per Anthony Chiang of Miami Herald.
The Heat have recently stormed back after early-season injuries and COVID-19 concerns robbed them of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic at various points through the season thus far. And if reporters are suffering from short-term memory loss, they should be reminded of just how resilient this Miami team is.
After all, it was only just over half a year ago when Miami shocked the Eastern Conference to grit their way to a Finals date with the mighty Los Angeles Lakers, whom they managed to take to six games before eventually caving in to LA's undeniable duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The roster that returned this year is largely the same, and this team is nothing if not mentally tough, as evidenced by their recent streak before this two-game slide.
In spite of that slide, the Heat still have a soft grip on the fourth seed in the East, as they are only 1.5 games ahead of the eighth-ranked Celtics, who can heat up at any point. The Atlanta Hawks (21-20), New York Knicks (21-21), and Charlotte Hornets (20-20) round out the rest of what is shaping up to be an absolute dogfight in the bottom half of the East playoff race.
It is unwise to the point of foolishness to take the Heat's slide too seriously, but in the East, that sort of slip can take them out of the playoff conversation entirely. They have an opportunity to stop the bleeding on Sunday when they face the Pacers once more, and they'd better, before the sharks in the water below them can smell it.
