MIAMI – As the showdown between the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzlies got physical late, a scuffle broke out between Myron Gardner and Scottie Pippen Jr. The game ended with the home team taking care of business on Saturday, 136-120. With the Heat looking to achieve their personal goals with 24 games left in the season, Norman Powell and Tyler Herro revealed what's at the top of the team's list to conquer.
For the past three seasons, Miami has finished in familiar territory, being locked in at the eighth seed, fighting its way into the playoffs through the play-in tournament. To get out of contention for the tourney, the team has to finish at least at the sixth seed, with the Heat making progress after Saturday's win and the Orlando Magic losing in double-overtime to the Phoenix Suns. Miami is now in seventh at 31-27.
At the moment, the Philadelphia 76ers are sixth at 30-26, and standings could change at ondime depending on the results of each game. Powell would admit after the win over the Grizzlies how “focused” the team is in playing to their strengths and avoiding the play-in tourney.
“We want to get out of the play-in. So we're locked into it, we know what we need to do obviously…Nobody's gonna come help us,” Powell said after scoring 25 points. “It's all on us, controlling what we can control as a team…putting our best foot and best effort forward to give us a chance to get out of that.”
“Obviously, we want to have [teams] have a little downfall while we're kicking into gear and getting these wins,” Powell continued. “But we're focused on how we need to play and how we need to compete every single night.”
Norman Powell on the Heat focusing on getting out of the play-in tourney: #HeatNation
"It’s what we're focused on. We want to get out the play-in. We're locked into it. We know what we need to do. We're not hoping somebody is going to come help us, it’s all on us…” pic.twitter.com/9yF8jHEfd0
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) February 22, 2026
Heat's Tyler Herro on what Erik Spoelstra talks about all the time
While the Heat are looking to maximize their potential, especially now that the team is the healthiest it's been in a while, though they were without Davion Mitchell and Nikola Jovic on Saturday, it's crucial to stack wins. Miami had trouble winning even consecutive games to start 2026, but now, with an offensive boost in Herro returning after missing 45 total games this season, the goal is set in getting at least the sixth seed.
Herro came off the bench once again, and although he scored a game-high 24 on Friday against the Atlanta Hawks, he wasn't as efficient against Memphis, scoring 14 points. Still, he's getting his feet under him after missing 15 straight games before Friday and admitted, besides himself and Bam Adebayo mostly wanting to get out of the play-in, as they've experienced it the most, so does head coach Erik Spoelstra as well.
“Yeah, our coach talks about it every day,” Herro said when talking about getting out of the tourney. “We as players, mainly me and Bam, who've been here, we want to get out of the play-in. That's our goal, and that's our first goal. We got a lot of goals.”
Tyler Herro speaks after the game about how he continues to feel after coming back from the ribs injury, the depth of the team, how coach talks about getting out of the play-in tourney, and more: #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/mFqiBqau9A
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) February 22, 2026
If there's one thing for certain, Miami seems to be hitting a stride offensively, scoring over 120 points in the last three games, with even the team scoring at least 70 points in the paint in the past two contests.
“I like a lot of what's happening offensively in the last two games,” Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints. “Playing a real collective game, sharing the ball, being aggressive, back-to-back 70-point in the paint games. Taking appropriate shots, guys are really just playing the right way, and you can see it.”
Asked Erik Spoelstra about the offense not skipping a beat, though the defense giving up 120 isn’t something he likely wants to give up every game.
“I like a lot of what’s happening offensively the last two games, playing a real college game…”
Full answer: #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/VaQj1lxed9
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) February 22, 2026
Norman Powell on what the Heat are starting to do
Despite the current three-game winning streak coming against subpar teams such as the New Orleans Pelicans, the Hawks, and now the Grizzlies, the team had trouble earlier handling lowly opponents. At any rate, it's the first time in over a month that Miami has won three straight games, leading Powell to tell ClutchPoints how the Heat are “starting to buy into the collective effort.”
“I think now, at this point in the season, leave all the clutter out, nothing else matters besides winning,” Powell said. “I think that's the most important thing. And I think we're really starting to buy into the collective effort and trusting one another and working the game. And I think that's the biggest part.”
“I think obviously us being finally healthy, you know, we didn't have [Mitchell] tonight like but I think it's the healthiest we've been all year, and we just want to continue to build that chemistry and do all the little things to help us pull these games out and not have any slippage and continuing to focus on our goal of getting out the play-in [tournament],” Powell continued.
Asked Norman Powell about the Heat winning three straight games for the first time in a while, and after he joked about that being a shot (lol), would speak on how the team is “starting to buy into the collective effort” and the goal to get out of the play-in tourney: #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/5WOEXWbFUw
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) February 22, 2026
Miami is now 31-27, putting them seventh in the East as they embark on a two-game road trip starting Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
