The Miami Heat fell to the seventh seed after losing to a Brooklyn Nets team that just traded away Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. That’s not a guaranteed playoff appearance. Miami would need to win a play-in game to make the postseason.
In the past two weeks, the Heat have now lost to the Nets and Knicks — the two teams ahead of them in the standings. The Cleveland Cavaliers, currently the fourth seed, had a seven-game win streak snapped last night. Instead of feeling like the Heat could leapfrog all those teams to secure home-court advantage in the first round, two straight losses have put the Heat back in danger.