Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra Embracing The Competitiveness This Time Of Year

Spoelstra says the Heat's current position beats the alternative of being out of the playoff race

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has experienced the opposite throughout his career. 

There were plenty months the Heat were out of playoff contention at this time of year. So instead of complaining about holding the No. 7, he'd rather embrace the fact the team is still competing for something. 

"You've got to embrace the grind," Spoelstra said after Friday's win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. "We're fighting for our competitive lives right now. Is this the exaction position we want to be in? No. But you do have to embrace the competition. When you're dreaming about things in the middle of the summer, this is what you want."

A year after earning the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference seed, the Heat are fighting for their playoff playoffs. Right now, they are hoping to improve enough to get out of the play-in tournament. The Heat trail the Brooklyn Nets by 2.5 games for the No. 6, which puts them in the regular playoffs. 

"You want games with incredible pressure and context," Spoelstra said. "You don't want games to have no meaning or to play for lottery balls. You want to have this context and you want to see what this competition can bring out of you. It's going to bring out all of the above. It's going to bring out elation. It's going to bring out frustration. It's going to bring out anger. It's going to bring out joy. It's going to bring out everything in between. This is when you feel most alive is when you're putting yourself out there competitively and you don't necessarily know what's going to happen. When you persevere and come through, you find something about yourselves." 

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