Heat Need a Win Against Hawks

The Heat have a real chance to take charge of their playoff destiny tonight - yes, against the Hawks.

For starters, the Heat are now half a game in back of the Wizards - who are taking on the Seattle Supersonics at 10:00pm tonight EST. A win for the Heat and a loss for the Wiz leaps the Hot in front by a half game.

Yes, the Hot - if the Heat can keep on rolling without Wade like they have been, they are no longer the Heat but simply what they are: the Hot.

And all our Heaters have to do is beat the Hawks in the ATL tonight who are on that 1 game win streak, and 5-5 over their last 10 games. They might still be without Joe Johnson, who has been out since March 7th with a deep thigh bruise. A win on the road for the Heat would help.

Also, the Heat could benefit from their friends the Dallas Mavericks as they take on Eastern conference "powerhouse" (Oh man! I almost peed myself typing that!) the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. Cleveland is 4.5 games in front of Miami for the #2 spot, as they are the non-leadered conference team with the best record (huh?) and will get a better seeding over the division leaders since they have a better record.

In other words, Miami would grab the #3 spot from Washington tonight, while also moving a game closer to Cleveland's #2 spot if everything plays out right tonight.

So, go Heat and go Mavs tonight. If it works out, the Heat could be in sole possession of the SE division (where they belong) and getting closer to the Cavs' lofty #2 spot.

In all honesty, the Heat grabbing and keeping the 3 spot would be enough as it would prevent a potential matchup with Detroit until the ECF - which is where we want to be - but also keep them out of the Bulls' hair for a while.

It remains to be seen what kind of player Wade will be when he returns, so those concerns over matchups and seedings are warranted.

So yeah, a win against the Hawks makes it that much easier for the Heat coming down the stretch. Besides, do you really want to have a two game losing streak that consists of the Magic and the Hawks? The Heat need to be taking advantage at this time of year, despite the injuries.