NBA Power Rankings: The Miami Heat and the five stages of grief

In this week’s NBA Power Rankings, the Miami Heat are facing elimination and working through the five stages of grief.

Our new look NBA Power Rankings are back, a non-traditional structure for a non-traditional era of professional basketball. The world is no longer just about wins and losses and teams are no longer the primary crucible of basketball power. So each week we’ll be dissecting how basketball power is presently distributed — between players, teams, friendships, diss tracks, aesthetic design choices, across leagues and whatever else has a temporary toehold in this ever-changing landscape.

Who has the power in this week’s NBA Power Rankings?

Sure it’s a 3-1 deficit but we’ve already seen two different 3-1 comebacks pulled off in these playoffs alone. It’s a big hole to climb out of BUT if you subtract the last three-quarters of Game 1 when Danny Green miraculously went supernova and then the Heat were reeling without Dragic and Adebayo, the Lakers are only +8 for the rest of the series.

Bam is back and ready to make an even bigger impact. Jimmy Butler has another 40-point game in (maybe even two). And if the Heat can just push the Lakers to six or seven games, there’s a chance Dragic can actually get back on the court. Things are dark, but this one is far from over.

Congratulations to the Lakers’ fans on winning some titles a billion years ago and then coasting on that legacy for decades. What a genius move having LeBron James fall in your lap and having Anthony Davis force a ridiculous trade where you pay pennies on the dollar to get the best big man in the NBA. Thank goodness you’re getting a chance to break your (checks notes), 10-year title drought. What a mental load you all have been carrying.

And kudos for the brilliant game strategy of having the two best players on the court and letting them do whatever they want. No other organization or coaching staff could have come up with something so innovative. And I am sure it’s much more satisfying than actually building a team through careful work, player development and organizational skill. Enjoy your parade your morons.

Look, the Heat just have to get Game 5. That’s it. Just one game. They’ve already taken a game from the Lakers without Adebayo, getting one more with him shouldn’t be that big a deal. Butler doesn’t even have to go for 40 again, they just need some Herro and Robinson to hit some shots and Adebayo to control the middle of the floor on defense. Do anything they can to steal this one game and then you let Game 6 take care of itself.

*sigh*

I guess there’s only so much you can do. The Heat aren’t the first and probably won’t be the last time to get out-everythinged by LeBron James in a playoff series. Maybe if Dragic and Adebayo had been healthy the entire time, maybe if a few of those first-quarter Game 1 3s for the Lakers had rimmed out, maybe if Markieff Morris hadn’t turned into Rashard Lewis the Heat could be in a different spot. But they’re not.

And if they can’t win three in a row, this postseason run was still a blinding flash of excitement and optimism, scorching expectations. There is no reason to think next year can’t be even better, with health, better luck, another year of development for Tyler Herro and maybe some tweaks at the edges of the roster. You have to take what the universe gives you and the Heat have seized every opportunity that was given to them, made the most of every possession they had in the NBA bubble. It might not be a title-winning season, but it’s easily one of the most fun and memorable seasons in franchise history.