Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra believes that the team is in full survival mode right now.
The Miami Heat are ready to welcome LeBron James back to South Beach on Christmas Day, in what is expected to be a high intensity game. James’ former teammates are not happy with the way that he left them to return to Cleveland, and neither are Heat fans.
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Despite the big game that is looming just a couple short days a way, Erik Spoelstra believes that his team is in full survival mode and isn’t circling any particular game on the calendar. Miami has to take care of business against the Philadelphia 76ers before they can focus on the Cavaliers game. That being said, the Heat are still the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Miami started the season off fairly strong, but they are now sitting at 13-15. Injury issues for both Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have already popped up, and that is a very dangerous situation to keep an eye on moving forward. The Heat have been linked to Josh Smith rumors, which would be a huge and much needed midseason acquisition.
SPOELSTRA on Christmas: "We’re not at a point where we’re circling some games more than others. We’re in survival mode right now."
— Joseph Goodman, Sports Enthusiast 🎟🍺 (@JoeGoodmanJr) December 23, 2014
Mario Chalmers is one of the players that has stepped up this season to help fill the void that James left. He has been a scorer as well as playmaker, and obviously Luol Deng has been a key piece as well.
All of that being said, the national media and fans are already looking ahead to Thursday’s matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is going to be a very fun game with a lot of attention surrounding it, and a win would be huge for the Heat at this point in the season. First things first though, they need to defeat the 76ers and get back to being one game below .500.
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