The Miami Heat are "trending in the right direction," according to guard Wayne Ellington.
I think that sums it up perfectly.
Welcome to the Miami Sports Weekly Rundown, I'm David Baumann.
The Miami Heat still have a winning record (17-16) despite injuries to key players like Hassan Whiteside, Dion Waiters, Goran Dragic, James Johnson, Justice Winslow, to name a few...
"There are some really good things going on with our team despite the injuries," head coach Erik Spoelstra told the Sun Sentinel. "I like the direction we're going."
The great news is Whiteside is set to return after a 13-game absence.
The seven-footer's presence alone should help tremendously.
But the bad news is it's unclear how much longer Johnson (ankle bursitis), Winslow (left knee strain) and Waiters (sprained left ankle) will remain out.
A few players that made the most of their extending playing time during the first third of the season are Ellington, who is hitting 42.5% from three-point range.
He just went off for 28 points on 8-12 threes in a win over Dallas last Friday.
Miami Sports Weekly Rundown: Miami Heat Continues To Win After Loss Of Injured Players
Then there's rookie Bam Adebayo. After barely playing in the month of November, he stepped up big... averaging 8.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 25 minutes per game in December.
Bam's been solid. He's impressed fans, teammates and coaches along the way.
"He's learning at such a rapid pace," Spoelstra said about Adebayo. "How can we not be encouraged by what we're seeing with Bam?"
And then there's newcomer Kelly Olynyk, the Heat's main free agent offseason signing, who was awfully quiet in November, where he averaged just 7.9 PPG.
There have been whispers that the Heat may have made a mistake by giving him $50M.
But Olynyk just went off on his old Boston Celtics squad for a career-high 32 points on 12-15 shooting in a nail-biting 90-89 win last Wednesday.
His dunk to cap off the win was flat-out incredible...
After the game, the Celtics' Marcus Smart said, "We got our ass kicked by Olynyk."
Olynyk's scored in double-figures in six of his last seven games.
It looks like he's starting to get a lot more comfortable in his Heat #9 jersey.
And that's a very good thing as we look ahead to the remaining 60% of the regular season.
Let's remember, the Heat were 10-21 last year at the holiday break.
That team went on to make an astounding run -- barely missing out on the 8th and final playoff spot that went to the Chicago Bulls on a head-to-head tiebreaker rule (it was a rule Pat Riley called "ridiculous.")
If the 2017-18 season were to end right now, they'd be in the same exact position as they were last year.
They're tied with the Knicks at 17-16 for the 8th and final playoff spot, but the Knicks own the tiebreaker.
So the Heat would again be on the outside looking in.
But there's a lot more season left to play...
And this year's team knows what it will take in order to grab a playoff spot.
So I'm going to go ahead and make a prediction that this year's Heat team will INDEED make the playoffs.
They're going to get healthier...
They're going to get better...
And they've already experienced the heartbreak after narrowly missing out on the postseason last year.
No way this team gets worse from here on out.
They're only going to improve.
Trending up.
David Baumann is a Sports Columnist for 305area.com and can be heard Tuesdays on EK Sports from 7-9pm on 96.9 The Game FM Orlando (or anywhere on iHeartRadio).
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