{"id":285983,"date":"2026-05-27T10:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/285983\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T10:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:39:07","slug":"are-nba-playoffs-confirming-bent-of-miami-heats-pat-riley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/285983\/","title":{"rendered":"Are NBA playoffs confirming bent of Miami Heat’s Pat Riley?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: Jalen Brunson changed the trajectory of the Knicks organization. As did Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Oklahoma City.\u00a0 Like Dwyane Wade for Miami. Whales or species that act as franchise whales are still in favor.\u00a0 \u2013 Stuart, Miami.<\/p>\n

A: But so are supporting casts, considering how much the Knicks had to bolster their roster around Jalen Brunson, how much the Thunder have done around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and even how much the Heat had to do around Dwyane Wade during those two championship eras. A whale, alone, can leave a team grounded. The NBA is a league that requires at least a 1A and a 1B, although the 1A is the toughest part of the equation to find. For the Heat, that search continues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Q: So either the question has not been asked or answered. Are there Plans B, C or D if Miami acquires Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and he gets re-injured with calf or other medical issues after the team forks over a ransom to get him?\u00a0 \u2013 Rodney.<\/p>\n

A: Nope. Just as there would be no Plan B (or beyond) for the Spurs without Victor Wembanyama, the Thunder without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Knicks without Jalen Brunson, and so on. Oh, each team still could compete, just not at championship level. But considering the Heat have been a 10th-place team the past two years, if they do acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo and he is sidelined, it\u2019s not as if there is much distance to further tumble. You win in the NBA with healthy stars. But first you have to get the star.<\/p>\n

Q: Kenny Atkinson appeared to have a lot of fun in last year\u2019s playoffs as the Cavaliers ran up the score against the Heat while setting an NBA record for the largest point differential in a series. Didn\u2019t the Knicks completely turn the tables on his score-inflating strategy? \u2013 Colt, Coral Gables.<\/p>\n

A: No, they just did what the Cavaliers did a year earlier against the Heat, crushed an overmatched opponent. The playoffs are no time for a mercy rule. You make sure to get the job done as quickly as possible to maximize rest for what comes next. But as Cleveland\u2019s second-round failure last year against the Pacers showed, it doesn\u2019t necessarily carry over to the next series. Either potential Western Conference opponent is of a far higher level than the Cavaliers were against the Knicks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: Jalen Brunson changed the trajectory of the Knicks organization. As did Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Oklahoma City.\u00a0 Like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17325,114,123,125,2490,16151,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-285983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-ask-ira","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-heat-blog","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}