The Miami Heat remain among the NBA’s top 10 teams even after their seven-game winning streak was ended last week.
In the most recent NBA.com power rankings, they were ranked No. 10. They were one position behind the Dallas Mavericks and one ahead of the Indiana Pacers. The top place was occupied by the Boston Celtics.
“Caleb Martin, the hero of the Eastern Conference finals, made a triumphant return from a 10-game layoff last week, but Tyler Herro is still out,” reported John Schumann of NBA.com. “That means the Heat are a little more whole as they continue a five-game trip that began with the loss in Chicago on Saturday.”
The Heat defeated the Chicago Bulls 118-100 on Sunday to get back in the win column. Jimmy Butler missed the entire fourth quarter, yet they still prevailed.
Butler commented, “I’m glad we didn’t do that because we set the tone our last game too—we just let up a little bit.” “I adore that. Permit my teammates to excel. They may take as much time as they want, and I’ll just kick back and watch the show.”
Before their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday, the Heat (9-5) were leading the Southeast Division.
Erik Spolestra, the coach of the Heat, stated, “There are times when you do have the opportunity to get better from tough losses.” “The way the fourth quarter played out the other night left us all quite upset. We lost the game despite feeling like we had the upper hand for the most of it. You could get humbled by that.
Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Sports Illustrated on Fan Nation’s Inside The Heat channel. Since 2010, he has covered the NBA.