The Heat knew the build was dead in 2001 when they got smacked around by the Charlotte Hornets and were sent packing early in round one. One wonders if management realizes that it should be no different this time. 

They were drawn and quartered in Toronto on Tuesday to start their miniseries with the Raptors and it’s hard to keep track of what number of humiliation this is for them. It wasn’t because they sealed their fates going into the Play-In Tournament for the fourth straight year, but because they look a class below most of the decent and above teams. 

It’s a good thing that they are likely headed to the ninth and 10th-seeded Play-In game, instead of the seventh and eighth they’ve been accustomed to. This way they have a chance of getting put out of their misery early since losing would send them to the lottery. 

That’s right. The Heat’s one percent chance of getting the first pick is exponentially better than surviving the Play-In to get smoked in round one.

It’s come to this. 

Poor coach Erik Spoelstra has kept up this charade when he knows deep down they can’t hang — and they know it, too. The team will probably be hopeless against the Raptors on Thursday, giving up at some point in the second half. 

It’s around these times that a team quits on the season. In this case, it’s more about abandoning the mission than turning their back on Spoelstra. 

Two games remain after Thursday’s: Friday in Washington against the Wizards and the home finale on Sunday versus the Atlanta Hawks, which will be the final regular season game of Michael Baiamonte, the Heat’s PA announcer’s, career. He’s given them 35 years of service. The team would win that game if life were like a movie, but the Hawks already embarrassed them on the 2006 championship commemoration night. They could easily do it again because they have been a top nine team over the last two months (27-13).

Perhaps the closing to this season will make management reflect on what they had 20 years ago, when Dwyane Wade went beast mode in the Finals, delivering their first championship. Having a player like that is the only way to win. A collection of very good players winning a title doesn’t happen, save for the 2004 Detroit Pistons, and that team had arguably the greatest defense of all time.

The Heat had a real go-to when Jimmy Butler was around, but they couldn’t put a good enough team around him. The way he overdelivered with less in three great playoff runs that included two finals trips broke the Heat’s thinking. They’ve brought back teams that should have expired, thinking their way will surprise the public, but it wasn’t that — it was Butler being one of the greatest playoff risers in NBA history. They reached the wrong conclusion about how smart they are like Jerry Jones did when the Cowboys won the Super Bowl in 1995 with Barry Switzer instead of Jimmy Johnson, who already had won two championships with them.

And now the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets, two division rivals, have eclipsed them in potency and relevancy. The Hawks intelligently traded away an All-Star player (Trae Young) because they couldn’t win with his awful defense, which is something the Heat should have done with Tyler Herro since he is not that guy and next year is the last one on his contract. Plus the Hornets spent a long time in the cellar, something the Heat were never willing to do.

Nick Arison and the committee pride themselves on having an adaptable organization, but that is being put to the test. So far, they’ve been at the desk a while and are flunking.

Nothing like playing a team in the cellar to boost the numbers.

It was the first meeting since Bam Adebayo’s 83-point outburst on March 10, and the Heat’s bench crew got the extra time in the tune-up win. They scored 142.1 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.

Still, the Wizards pressured Adebayo early, not wanting to allow a repeat or close to it of his career high. He said, “They did their jobs. I got six shot attempts.”

Tyler Herro was absent for personal reasons, so Simone Fontecchio started in his place, scoring eight points in 19 minutes. 

Jaime Jaquez Jr. set a season high of 32 points, slicing and pivoting through the lane. His best stretch was in the second quarter, helping the team separate themselves from the Wizards, making five of his 12 baskets. 

On top of that, the Heat missed all four 3-point attempts in the period and still scored 41 points on 68.2% shooting.

Kel’el Ware also made 10 shots in the restricted are and behind the 3-point line, with 19 rebounds and seven blocks. Coach Erik Spoelstra said, “I would say, we’ve had three practices in the last few days, I would venture to say these are the three best practices he’s had this year and those are coming out of some tough games with tough competition.”

They started the fourth quarter ahead by 31 points, and none of the starters had to come in. The team had shut off the paint for most of the game up to that point, while getting what they wanted.

Rookie Kasparas Jakučionis, who hadn’t played the last two games because of a coach’s decision, was one of four players to log all of the fourth-quarter minutes. Nikola Jović likely would have been the fifth, but he was fouled, catching a lob in mid-air with 36 seconds and came down hard on his left ankle. Jamir Watkins was given a flagrant foul penalty two, and Spoelstra later said that Jović’s ankle was sprained. Keep in mind that Jović had missed the last six games.

The Heat won 152-136, setting a new season high in points and it was one point shy of their all-time single game scoring record. The previous high (150) this season also came against Washington on March 10. 

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The Heat are the 10th seed, with four games are left in the regular season: the next two are in Toronto against the Raptors, then Washington on April 10 and the finale on April 12, hosting the Atlanta Hawks.  

There wasn’t much separation through three quarters, and the teams were desperate to climb out of Play-In Tournament territory. Aside from some relief minutes given to Kel’el Ware, the team was playing six guys while their 3-point shooting was not a factor. 

Then Tyler Herro was the best player on the floor in the fourth. He had 18 points before it started, and played the rest of the minutes, making pull-up jumpers and dive-bys. He finished with 30 points, but no baskets were bigger than the consecutive 3-pointers that gave the Heat the late lead. It was his highest-scoring fourth period of the season, and he also had two critical blocks in crunch time. 

He said, “I mean I was open, both were great looks. I was able to knock them down, rely on my work. I shoot those same shots every day multiple times a day.”

It also helped the Heat that the other five players scored in the lane in the fourth, they were the nastier team on the boards, and they had their sharpest defensive spurt late. Bam Adebayo said, “You saw how we guarded, we’re capable of that. We can do that every night.”

Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid carried the visitors down the stretch, scoring 10 points on 50% shooting, but the effects were diluted as the Heat keyed in on everyone else. 

The Heat won 119-109 after three ties and 14 lead changes. 

Coach Erik Spoelstra said , “There were several moments where we were putting pedal to the metal, and it started defensively.” 

The team slowed the 76ers offense to 110.1 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 33rd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. 

Additionally, the Heat are three games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the sixth seed, and would need to be almost perfect while their division rivals come apart the rest of the way. Keep in mind that the Orlando Magic and the 76ers want that spot just as badly as the Heat. 

Observations:

• Embiid is not the same rebounder he used to be, perhaps to preserve the spring in his legs. Nonetheless, he is still a powerhouse inside the arc because of his brutish strength and soft tough. Tyrese Maxey is the perfect complimentary star next to him since he is so fast as a three-level scorer. Yet, Herro and Adebayo outplayed them by combining for more points and rebounds. To boot, Adebayo made 12 of 13 freebies, and it was his ninth time this year taking double-figure free throws.

• It was the Heat’s worst 3-point shooting night of the season, making 27.5% of attempts. The previous worst was set in Friday’s loss in Cleveland, after logging only 32.6%.

• Notably, the rookie Kasparas Jakučionis did not play because of the coach’s decision. It was the first game he missed since the Feb. 6 loss in Boston. Additionally, Philly’s V.J. Edgecombe has been one of the top rookies this year, and he was held to two points in the second half in almost 15 minutes.