Bam Adebayo, Heat’s frustrations growing amid another year of expected play-in purgatory

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Bam Adebayo, Heat’s frustrations growing amid another year of expected play-in purgatory

Zachary Weinberger, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Fri, Feb 27, 2026 ·

8 min read

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Bam Adebayo, Heat's frustrations growing amid another year of expected play-in purgatory appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

With the Miami Heat losing to the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night, 124-117, it stalls the team once again in their main goal of climbing the standings to avoid the play-in tournament. There's no denying that Heat star Bam Adebayo is sick and tired of being in the play-in tournament, as he made his thoughts known after the loss; however, it might just be inevitable.

Miami is all too familiar with the play-in tourney, having finished as the eighth seed in the last three seasons, and the team is looking to finish at least sixth to avoid it altogether. However, with 22 games left, time is winding down for this time make a significant run, with Thursday having been a prime opportunity.

A win against the 76ers would've given the Heat a tiebreaker that could've had postseason implications with Philadelphia being the sixth seed and Miami being at the eighth spot. The setbacks have been weighing on the team, as shown with Adebayo's comments, where he is fed up with being in the tourney and how the team is better than that.

"I don't want to be in that s*** no more," Adebayo said, via video from HeatCulture on X, formerly Twitter. "We're better than being in the play-in for the last four years."

Looking at the loss to the 76ers, Miami shot itself in the foot with a rocky first half as Philadelphia got anything they wanted on offense. Adebayo called out the effort of the team, saying they "didn't play hard enough."

"I mean, I don't know how to explain effort. You can clearly see we weren't making enough of an effort to get guys off the line, make multiple efforts," Adebayo said after recording 29 points and 14 rebounds on Thursday with video via Heat Nation on X.

Bam Adebayo on where the Heat have been "stagnant"

Though the Heat was without Norman Powell for a portion of the game after he left with a groin injury, the game featured another concerning trend that has impacted the team. As Miami had a three-game winning streak heading into Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks , the team would collapse by not scoring a field goal in the last six and a half minutes of the game.

Thursday was similar, as while the second half for the Heat was much better in erasing a 17-point Philadelphia lead, even with Miami taking a lead, the team would go scoreless in almost the last three minutes of the outing. Another frustration that Adebayo aired out was how "stagnant" they were.

"We got stagnant offensively," Adebayo said, according to The Miami Herald. "We ran a certain play over and over again, and we were stagnant."

Another area that the team needs to figure out is how to capitalize when in clutch time, as while Powell was not in the game, players such as Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins , and especially a returning Tyler Herro need to come up huge. Looking at the team's production on both sides of the ball, the offense has been up-and-down.

After taking the league by storm with a 14-7 start, showcasing a new fast-paced style of play, it hasn't resulted in a league-top offense.

While Miami leads the league in pace with 104.9 possessions per 48 minutes, the team is ranked 15th in offensive rating (114.0), whereas the Heat is fifth in defensive rating (111.6).

Heat's Erik Spoelstra admits needing to do a better job

As the Heat look to continue challenging themselves throughout the rest of the season, it could be hard for a fan to believe this team can put it all together and reach the sixth seed. Besides the team going through a myriad of injuries throughout the season, especially with Herro, head coach Erik Spoelstra is also looking to balance the youth movement on the team and play them significant minutes.

There's no denying that the one player people point to is Kel'el Ware, being the forefront of Miami's youth, as he only played 12 minutes. With the Heat being 1-9 when Ware plays less than 15 minutes, plus other young players getting fluctuating minutes like Kasparas Jakucionis , Myron Gardner , Keshad Johnson , and Nikola Jovic, Spoelstra would admit needing to be better with the team.

"I have to do a better job with this group," Spoelstra said, via The Miami Herald. "We have the potential that we can see. We have the explosiveness, we have the defense. It's a matter of consistency. And that's what I'm here for, to be able to help bridge that along with the veterans, to be able to help our consistency."

"But also to hold the young guys accountable," Spoelstra continued. "And we have more of them than we've had in recent history, but also develop them and infuse confidence in them. And that's a fine balance. But again, that's what I'm here for. I want to take that challenge, and I want to be better with that."

While Spoelstra was candid, Adebayo would be as well, saying that the coach has been "trying" to adjust to playing the young players.

"He's trying to," Adebayo said. "I wouldn't say he's completely adjusted, but he's trying to. He's trying to adjust, he's trying to make it work, he's trying to figure it out. The biggest part of that is him trying it. Because we all know our coach. If something doesn't work, he'll scratch it real quick. So it's good that he's trying to work at it."

The Heat's youth situation has been a balancing act

It has been a balancing act for Spoelstra, but he has said time and time again that he isn't in the business of gifting minutes to younger players. This has been shown by how much time has been given to Pelle Larsson , who has been a mainstay in the starting lineup as of late, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. , who has been the team's no-doubt sixth man.

"We're not going to prioritize something over winning," Spoelstra said. "Winning is going to be the bottom line. Take it or leave it, like it or not, that's what the Miami Heat is about. We're competing to win. You have to earn your minutes. We're not gifting minutes to anyone. We have more young players playing in the rotation than we've had in a long time, and that's this balance that I'm embracing."

"Develop these players, infuse them with confidence, but also hold them accountable to our standard," Spoelstra continued. "The standard is not going to change, and we feel that players improve the quickest when there's an accountability to winning, when they're not just empty minutes that are being gifted to someone."

As laid out, Miami has a lot of work to do with 22 games left in the season, and while it is very possible for the team to make a run and reach that coveted sixth seed, the Heat haven't shown much promise to do so at this point. However, the team has proven the doubters wrong in the past, with Miami given another chance to rewrite the narrative.

Though the team has played a ton on the road. In fact, no team has played more on the road than the Heat at this point, as now the roster gets an extended stretch at home, making this the prime opportunity to turn the season around.

"It's very important," Jaquez said. "We got seven of eight at home. It's going to be a great time for us to make a stand and make a push and win some games."

At any rate, the Heat are 31-29, putting them eighth in the Eastern Conference, as they return home to face the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

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