A cool off in south beach with the Miami Heat is very unexpected especially after being the 1st seed for a good couple of weeks. Losing four of their last five games, The Miami Heat have been struggling to win games and are starting to seem a bit torn apart at the worst time of the season.

The Heat have been one of the best teams in the NBA this year with their additions of Kyle Lowry, PJ Tucker and the return of Victor Oladipo sitting over 46 wins in the season with less than nine games left to finish the season.

The fight for the 1st seed has tightened up with the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Boston Celtics all having nearly the same record which puts Miami in trouble throughout the season despite having clinched a playoff spot. The Heat had a tough and ugly night on March 23 against the Golden State Warriors, who were without Steph Curry.

That night the heat had a scuffle between its players and coaches. It all started in the beginning of the 3rd quarter when the Warriors had opened up the quarter on a 13-0 run which resulted in a frustrating timeout called by coach Erik Spoelstra. During the timeout veteran forward Udonis Haslem and star forward Jimmy Butler were having a heated discussion which resulted in Haslem furiously threatening his teammate Jimmy Butler that he would physically assault him which led to both players being separated.

Seconds after coach Erik Speolstra and Jimmy Butler also had a furious argument in which Spoelstra threw a clipboard at Jimmy Butler. What provoked that situation is still unsolved. The Heat had lost two nights before against the Philadelphia 76ers who were without James Harden and MVP candidate Joel Embiid.

These recent losses have allowed Boston, Philadelphia and Milwaukee to creep up and make the race for the 1st seed more interesting. The Miami Heat are coming off another loss against the Brooklyn Nets.

Miami has looked so much different now than a couple of weeks ago, the scuffle between their players and coaches couldn’t come at a worse time and that has seemed to affect their recent style of play. In these last four games, the Heat have allowed more than 110 points in each loss despite having one of the best defenses and a defensive player of the year candidate in Bam Adebayo. 

With less than nine games left in the regular season, it’s going to be interesting to see how the Miami Heat can close out their season and get their groove back before the playoffs start on April 16.

The separation of games is not much, the Heat can end the season in the top four seeds or end up in the 5th or 6th seed which would put their championship hopes in jeopardy due to a couple of teams having found their momentum.