The Heat won last night. Some Heat fans didn't want that.

A loss would have put Miami in the NBA Draft Lottery.

Photo by Alejandro Luengo on Unsplash

Led by 31 points apiece from Jimmy Butler and Max Strus, the Miami Heat defeated the Chicago Bulls last night to clinch the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. But many Heat fans actually wanted Miami to lose.

The argument was that having the 14th pick — let’s not kid ourselves about the half-a-percentage point chance to secure the No. 1 seed — would help retool the Heat roster for next season. After all, Miami drafted Bam Adebayo with the 14th pick in 2017 — after going 30-11 to end the season and missing the playoffs by one game. Just two years later, when Miami again fell short of the playoffs late in the regular season, the Heat drafted Tyler Herro with the 13th pick.

And the last time the Heat picked 20th in the NBA Draft, they picked Precious Achiuwa. Miami traded him after just one year in the Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade. The Heat, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers all finished the regular season with 44-38 records, so a random drawing will determine their order from 18-20 in the 2023 NBA Draft.

But how are we supposed to know who these picks will turn into? Many people thought the Heat had a steal in Justise Winslow in 2015 and reached in 2017 for Bam Adebayo. How does that look now?

Some may have also wanted the Heat to lose to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing sweep to the Bucks in the first round of the 2021 playoffs.

That’s not the Heat way.

I won’t kid anyone and say the Heat have much of a chance to win this series. Even if the Heat had won against the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night, they likely wouldn’t have beaten the Boston Celtics. A big disappointment of Miami after the All-Star break was failing to overtake the Brooklyn Nets for the sixth seed to face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. Then, Miami would’ve had a decent chance.

The Heat are coming in as a heavy underdog to the Bucks. Now, the attitude has to be to leave it all on the court. No one is counting you in, so what do you have to lose?