Miami Heat Week 19: Bam Leads the Charge as Playoff Push Begins

Untitled project from SquadCast === eric-_1_03-01-2026_135102: [00:00:00] Week 19 of the 20 25, 20 26 NB. A season is over, which means it's time to run it back. This is run it back NBA week and review heat edition. I'm Eric Labrador at thePeachBasket.net covering the Miami Heat. This is the show where we recapped the week that was in the NBA and then highlight the marquee matchup for the week to come for the Miami Heat. In week 19, Miami went one and two, beating only Houston and losing to Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Now in the Houston game, the heat were able to recap or redeem themselves rather for what happened in Milwaukee and Philadelphia. The heat, started strong and stayed strong, showed that mental toughness, they weren't intimidated by Houston which is third in the west. [00:01:00] The game wasn't decided though until the fourth quarter where the heat pulled ahead late and Houston wasn't able to get enough scoring to overtake them. Which leads me to the games against Milwaukee and Philadelphia. The, he gave up the lead in both games. No doubt about it. Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. Are up and coming stars that Milwaukee has found. And Milwaukee is factoring in to get into the play and tournament. The heap went in there and they didn't play well at all. Turned the ball over too many times then against Philadelphia for many, for a few years Now, it seems like many years the, they've been talking about when Ben Simmons was traded that Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid were gonna make Philadelphia. A perennial playoff team that hasn't [00:02:00] worked, whether it's with Ed's moodiness or his injuries it's never really worked out. But this year and also drafting BJ Edge come, eh, with a third pick last year, Philadelphia seems, and they were showing against Miami no matter how much Miami pushed and they fought back to take the lead. Philadelphia would always make shots. To stay ahead. So good for Philadelphia. Now we move to our power ranking segment, and we start with the only objective overall top 10 NBA power rankings anywhere. You can read more about how we get to these rankings and see the entire list@thepeachbasket.net. He dropped from seven to 14 in the power rankings. And even though they can hang their hat on the fact that the rockets were in the top five in the Peach Basket, [00:03:00] power rankings Detroit, San Antonio, Boston Oklahoma City. Those are the teams the top teams in the league right now. And benchmarks for the heat moving forward on how to compare themselves. And our standout stats segment. Andrew Wiggins, the guy's been quietly having a very solid season. He announcer Eric Reed calls him the quiet storm. He averaged 2.3 blocks per game. Drew Smith the guy, it reminds me of the movie Rounders, where John Malkovich playing the Russian Teddy, KGB, drew Smith, his, he has good alligator blood that he's hanging around. This guy has survived the ACL tear from a couple of years ago. He injured himself his Achilles last season and the guy just keeps coming around and coming around. He plays tough [00:04:00] defense and is a fit, a scheme fit with the heat. He averaged two steals per game in the two games that he played. Tyler hi, returned to play this week and he was a co-leader with three threes made per game and he averaged 5.3 assists per game. But the man that backed up his talk in the locker room after the Philadelphia game, BA at abi he led the team in points. Threes made field goals, attempted rebounds, total rebounds. And defensive rebounds. The guy just played like the captain, played like the top star on the team. A guy though who led the team in all rebounding categories last week had a caloric a full calorie load cal, where led the team in offensive rebounds and yesterday had 13 points. And 15 rebounds against [00:05:00] Houston. So good for him. The marquee matchup segment the key is always gonna be to win every game for the Miami Heat. What's very important is that they play Brooklyn twice at the Kaseya Center this week. And to not falter in either of those games and to be Brooklyn. They go on a finishing up, they play Brooklyn on Thursday and then they finish up going to Charlotte. Now Charlotte is hot right now. They are hot on Miami's heels in the ninth spot in the East. But they don't play well at home. Go figure. They play all, they have a better record on the road than at home. They play in Charlotte on Friday night. Yeah, that's gonna be a tough game. And, but it's a very winnable game. You're not gonna hear any delusions here on the Run It Back Report. Miami can win every game this week. [00:06:00] Now, going to the viral pressure where I sit with AI and do a go a search for what they have to say on the internet about Miami. But before that, I have to say for everybody that follows basketball, if you've played basketball for a long time or if you wanna learn the game of basketball I personally always like watching basketball telecast that teach you about the game. I really don't care about long-winded video, videos on players, video segments, or. Personalities that really just go over talking points. I wanna learn about the game of basketball. And when I was watching the NBA on Prime Studio show with D Wade, Steve Nash and Yodon Haslam, they did a pick and roll segment where they. Not only talked about what the guy with the ball is doing in the pick [00:07:00] and roll, but the guy defending and they broke it down. If you could ever have a dream sequence of, guys that were elite in the NBA breaking down just something like a pick and roll. It was Steve yesterday. It was Steve Nash, Yodon, Haslam, and D Wade. Fantastic. The NB prime. A good show and I'm gonna keep watching it. The a ai says that the heat have nine home games in the month of March, which will help them in the playoff chase. They do have a challenging stretch towards the end of March with two straight road games in Cleveland and then closing in Indiana that he tried that last year. They did beat Cleveland. One out of two games, which was great, but then they fell apart to Indiana. But those nine home games you're thinking if you wanted to play, the odds, the heat go, seven and [00:08:00] two, eight and one, preferably nine, and oh 500 is just not gonna be good enough. But based on the results yesterday against Houston. The heat really just look offensively and defensively, like they're a guy away from gelling everybody together. In addition to Babi. Another a point that the AI brought up is that without Norman Powell, the heat's pace drops off by 5.3 points per game. But earlier this week and, he beat Ryder Ira Windman in his usual Ask Ira column. Fans pointed out that having Tyler Hiro and Norman Powell on the floor at the same time is not a good idea. They're both liabilities defensively and Milwaukee was exploiting to the hilt. The matchup problems and they were taking advantage of it, [00:09:00] so it's better. Right now that Tyler Harrow coming back for an injury and Norman Powell on the injured reserve they can get their legs, but going into the playoffs or the play internment or whatever it would be to have one of them on the bench while the other one's on the floor and vice versa. Ja. Maha Junior. It looks to me that he's gonna be the guy in my opinion to gel the team together. His physicality he has a Jimmy Butler like way in the post of getting to the basket. And what the heat needs to do is during and I highlighted it in my Milwaukee write up. Three pointers and three point hunting late in the game. That's not gonna cut it. D Wade was mentioning in the studio show yesterday. They need a guy that's gonna take over. No, you need a guy that's gonna draw fouls, that's gonna slow the game down. [00:10:00] That's gonna allow the team to it's almost like you're getting free timeouts. And Jaime Haquez Jr. I think. Again, in my opinion the reason why the he haven't pulled the trigger on games is that they're allowing Ja Maha Junior to take the ball and run with it. And his physicality, his ability to take the ball and play point forward and dish the ball out. I think he's gonna be the guy that will allow Tyler Hiro to be himself, which is a shooter. That's about a shooter, not a physical guy. Tyler Harris', not the physical guy. Jaime is gonna be the guy to look out for. Let's play those games this week and I'll be back when week 20 is over and we run it back. Have a good day everybody.