MIAMI (AP) – They have won 24 times in their last 31 games. They put together the NBA’s longest winning streak this season, a 13-game run that was beyond surprising. They are on the cusp of doing something never accomplished in NBA history.
This Miami Heat comeback tale has been an epic one.
And now comes the toughest part — finishing the job.
No team has ever started 11-30 or worse and still gotten into the NBA playoffs. The Heat, with 10 games left on their regular-season schedule, are in position to change that. They held the second-worst record in the league in mid-January, are tied with San Antonio for the best record since, and hold a one-game lead over Chicago and Detroit for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot entering Friday’s games.
“These guys want this so bad,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra – a reluctant coach of the year candidate who cringes when players lobby on his behalf – said Thursday after a loss to the Toronto Raptors. “They want this opportunity to be in the playoffs. We’ve fought, scratched, done everything we possibly can to put ourselves into a position to fight for it.”
More fighting and scratching awaits.
Of Miami’s final 10 games, a stretch that starts Sunday in Boston, eight are against teams still battling for either a playoff spot or playoff positioning. The only two exceptions are a home-and-home next week with New York, which earlier this season was seven games ahead of the Heat in the standings and now are eight games behind Miami.
Trailblazers 110, Knicks 95
Damian Lillard knows what can happen in games like Thursday.
So with the New York Knicks sitting Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose, Lillard made sure the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t go easy on the guys who did play.
Lillard scored 30 points and the Trail Blazers never trailed in a 110-95 victory.
“I know how these games can go,” Lillard said. “You can come out and take for granted that guys like D. Rose and Carmelo are not playing and say, `All right this is going to be an easy win.’ I think it was my third year, towards the end of the year, we played Utah and everybody sat out. They came in here and beat us.”
With that memory in mind, the Blazers rolled.
Lillard had 15 in the first quarter as Portland opened a 14-point lead. The Blazers led by as much as 23 and moved within a game of theDenver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 18 points for the Knicks.
Spurs 97, Grizzlies 90
The Memphis Grizzlies got into the Spurs defensively, pushing San Antonio around and making every possession a fierce fight.
The Spurs enjoyed it, especially their defensive-minded coach.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 23 points, Kawhi Leonard added 19 and San Antonio beat Memphis 97-90 in a possible first-round playoff preview.
“It’s good for the team and myself that we’re seeing this early instead of being hit in the playoffs,” Leonard said.
San Antonio opened a four-game homestand by moving two games behind idle Golden State for the league’s best record.
The Spurs (55-16) close the homestand against the Warriors (57-14) next Wednesday.
