DALLAS — And they still don’t know.
For all the Miami Heat have achieved with victories in 11 of their last 14, there is an awareness that the mix that helped achieve the success almost assuredly will be remixed by time the postseason arrives.
Lately, it has been playing in the absence of Tyler Herro and Kevin Love. Before that, Terry Rozier was sidelined. And even now, there is a waiting game when it comes to potential fits for newcomers Delon Wright and Patty Mills.
So instead of raising the charts with a bullet, it’s more of with an asterisk.
“I don’t think we’re there yet,” forward Caleb Martin said of the Heat having a true sense of self. “I just think that we’re trending in the right direction. There’s still a lot of stuff that we’ve got to clean up.
“And playing with different lineups, as well, we don’t have everybody back yet. So there’s going to be stuff to still figure out.”
While recent victories over the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and, Tuesday night, against the Detroit Pistons, have produced a rise in the standings, a better read could come over the next two games, a back-to-back road set on Thursday and Friday nights against the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I think we’re trending in the right direction,” Martin said, “and I think we’re starting to figure out kind of a base for ourselves, understanding that playing the way we’re playing right now, a lot of it is just credit to the defensive end. So I think we’re just anchoring in to that part of our game.”
Center Bam Adebayo said the notion of the Heat only recently beginning to build to something better misses the point of the travails along the way, including the seven-game losing streak immediately prior to this surge.
“I feel like we’ve been like that from the start of the season. It’s just not now,” he said. “We’ve really been preparing, prepping, going through ups and downs with the season.
“I feel like this is us. This is our identity. We get stops and we run. It doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup. We’ve had 31 different starting lineups. So it doesn’t matter. It’s next man up.”
Over the past few games, the Heat have closed out victories with a variety of defensive adjustments, the types of adjustments that are essential in the playoffs, with Adebayo, Martin, Jimmy Butler and Haywood Highsmith spotlighting their versatility on that end.
“I think we’ve got so many pieces that can adjust on the fly,” Martin said. “But, ultimately, it helps Bam’s the anchor of our defense and Bam allows us to do all that stuff. And obviously having guys like Jimmy, H, myself, all the way down the line that we can be versatile to get that stuff done.
“But if we don’t have a big like Bam that can do what he does, it would make it very tough for us to do any of that. He’s a big, key reason why we’re able to do that. I just love that we can throw so many different looks, especially in the fourth.”
While tight finishes against the likes of the Jazz and the Pistons might be viewed as too close for comfort to some, to coach Erik Spoelstra it is those types of moments that prep for the playoffs.
“If you just always guarantee that we get the win, I want as many of those as possible,” he said. “I love the experiences for our team to be able to go through situational, fourth-quarter experience with context of time, score, fouls, pressure, all of that. Where is the ball going? How are we defending different situations?
“And I think there’s enough institutional knowledge of what we’re trying to do.”
Against the Mavericks and Thunder, a fight to the finish again could be the only path to victory.
“These next 21 games, there’ll probably be a lot of these,” Spoelstra said. “It’s just the way it’s going right now. Everybody’s fighting for playoff positioning.”
So nothing for the Heat as too close for comfort.
“Since I’ve been here,” guard Duncan Robinson said, “we’ve had no shortage of close games. So we’re familiar with coming down the stretch. We have a handful of great closers, obviously starting with Jimmy. We know how to play down the stretch, where the ball needs to go.”
Injury report
Herro (foot) and Kevin Love (heel) did travel Wednesday for the two-game trip against the Mavericks and Thunder, with Josh Richardson out due to his shoulder surgery.
Martin is listed as available with a sprained left thumb.
In addition, Jamal Cain and Alondes Williams have been recalled from the G League, with Mills also to be available.