More ‘Playoff Jimmy’ and another Miami Heat postseason miracle way too much to ask ... right? | Opinion

Championship banners and expectations are raised to commensurate heights, and so it is a compliment to the Miami Heat — to this franchise’s pedigree of accomplishment — to say this team enters the playoffs after an ordinary-to-disappointing regular season and without much hope of a deep run.

Hmm. Sounds familiar. We thought that and said it one year ago, when Miami also was relegated to a play-in tournament, the NBA’s version of you don’t quite belong but you can earn your way in. A month of miracles ensued as Miami took a machete to long odds and slashed all the way to the Finals.

Do you believe in miracles ... again?

With no other team in this market is playoffs the starting point, the very bare minimum we expect.

This is the Heat’s 24th postseason in 36 years, a 66.7 percent ratio. Take away the first three expansion years and it’s 72.7 percent. Those 24 postseasons have produced seven NBA Finals appearances and championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013. (It has been awhile, Heat. Tick-tock...)

By comparison, the Miami Dolphins’ playoffs percentage is 42.4 percent (25 of 59), the Florida Panthers’ is 33.3 (10 of 30), and the Miami Marlins’ is 12.5 (four of 32).

But this Heat team fashioned a middling 46-36 regular-season record largely owing to sporadic injuries to key players spawning inconsistency, and unusual mediocrity (22-19) on the home court.

Now that is Jimmy Butler’s positive spin on Miami’s play-in opener Wednesday night being in Philadelphia.

“That’s a question that I don’t have the answer to. I wish we played better at home,” he said after Sunday’s home win left the Heat the No. 8 seed in the East. “I don’t know. Whenever we get on the road, our back [is] against the wall a little bit. I guess we get out of our comfort zone, and then we really start making things happen. So I’m actually kind of glad we’re on the road.”

Unfortunately, this road finds the No. 7-seed 76ers on a scorching 8-0 run since Joel Embiid’s return from midseason left knee surgery. Averaging 34.7 points, Embiid likely would be collecting a second straight league MVP trophy if not for 29 missed games.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra hoists the we-love-a-challenge flag in embracing this trip. At this point, every facet of Heat Culture is being leaned on.

“We’re looking forward to it. It will be a great environment,” Spoelstra said. “Philly has been playing fantastic recently. So we know what to expect up there. That is what we say: It’s for competitors only. It should be a lot of fun. I feel good about the group. That’s all I wanted to see these last couple of games. I just wanted to feel it. I know my team, I know the locker room. I can sense that the group is ready. That’s all you can ask for.”

The path from here is brutal.

It was last year, when Miami survived the play-in round and then unexpectedly mowed through Milwaukee, New York and Boston before falling to Denver in the Finals.

The path is brutal again. That’s what makes this Heat regular season so frustrating. In the tightly bunched East two games is the difference between play-in purgatory and fourth place — which would have meant home-court advantage in the first round.

Now, instead, this is Miami’s path:

▪ If the Heat wins Wednesday: Miami would claim the No. 7 playoff seed and meet the No. 2 New York Knicks in the opening round.

▪ If the Heat loses Wednesday: Miami would face a must-win home game Friday night vs. the Atlanta-Chicago winner for the No. 8 seed and the dubious right to meet mighty Boston in the first round.

Beating Philly on Wednesday — i.e., avoiding Boston in the first round — is itself a mammoth task.

“You don’ want to play Philadelphia,” as ESPN analyst Tim Legler says. “Obviously Jimmy Butler has a playoff track record, but Philly with Joel Embiid back is so unique. Miami has the track record of flipping the switch [in the postseason]. I don’t think that happens this year.”

Legler alluded to last year and “Playoff Jimmy.” Butler averaged 28.5 points in the first three rounds — including an insane 37.4 vs. the Bucks in the opening round.

But can he do it again? Miami will need him to. Butler is 34 now, and coming off a 20.8 scoring season that was his lowest in four years. Can he do it again?

In equal parts it is a lot to ask, and to expect.

“I feel like everybody is confident. Everybody is decently healthy for the most part,” says Butler. “We just got to go out there and hoop, man.”

What the Heat did from this spot last season won’t happen again. It can’t ... right?