Win Or Lose, This Miami Heat Run Should Eliminate Those Awful Fan Takes About Tanking

Think of all the memorable moments the Miami Heat have produced through four games this postseason.

The Jimmy Butler pull-up 3-pointer.

Tyler Herro showing hustle while diving for a loose ball.

Kevin Love and Butler embracing after Game 4.

The rebirth of Duncan Robinson.

The Max Strus 23-point first half.

The Butler dunk over Giannis Antetokounko.

Those were fun to watch. Now, ask yourself this: Would you rather have witnessed them or spent the last week talking about the NBA draft?

The answer is simple. The Heat are doing something every fan should want, and that's playing to win. The fans of today have somehow encouraged losing if their team isn't the Golden State Warriors or the Big Three Miami Heat from the 2010s. Lose, they say, if you aren't a Finals contender. Tank for a better draft pick.

Which is why it's so refreshing to see the Heat one victory from eliminating the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. At this point, it doesn't even matter if the Heat win or lose. They've provided enough excitement and optimism to show this group can contend.

"We knew what we were capable of," Butler said. "Even if nobody else outside of this building, outside of this roster, outside of this organization believed in us, that's fine."

You hear fans complain about load management but the "tanking fan" era is far worse. What the Heat are doing should silence that group because they've spent all season thinking about rebuilding instead of focusing on a team core that was one Butler 3-pointer from making two NBA Finals appearances in the last three seasons.

And there's a strong chance of yet another deep run in the playoffs for a team that supposedly doesn't have enough.

"The best thing about this group is we're confident no matter what," Butler said. "We know that we can compete with anybody as long we're together, as long as we play hard."

As a fan, that is all you can ask for. Or at least it should be.

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Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Inside The Heat.

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