The Miami Heat have not had their entire roster available since the loss to the Chicago Bulls on March 27 that snapped their winning streak at 27 games.
Yet since that 103-97 setback, the Heat have won four of five games and now are within one victory of matching the franchise record for wins in a season.
They are 60-16 and will have six opportunities to top the team mark of 61 wins set in the 1996-97 season.
“I remember that year,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That was my second year with the team. You felt the change of the culture of the franchise. That was an exciting year.”
Spoelstra, who served in a number of roles before being elevated to head coach on April 28, 2008, said he had “no idea” the Heat had reached the 60-win level for just the second time with their win over Philadelphia Saturday night.
“It’s tough to win in this league,” he said. “It really is. It’s tough to put together a team like this. It really is, for all the reasons we can talk about.
“But we’ve seen it on the other end where we only won 15. It’s much more enjoyable to be part of this.”
The Heat also need just two more wins to clinch home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
San Antonio remained at the top of Western Conference standings after Saturday’s action with a 57-20 record. Western runner-up Oklahoma City is 56-20.
The most wins either of them can get is 62. If the Heat, which long ago clinched the best record in the East, ends up tied with either the Spurs or Thunder or, for that matter, both, the Heat holds the tiebreaker by virtue of the season sweeps of the two.
The Heat, of course, reached this point mostly because of their long winning streak that game up six games short of tying the all-time record winning streak of 33 games set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.
What has been remarkable is their ability to continue to win following the loss to the Bulls despite the absence of key personnel that includes their Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh along with Mario Chalmers and Ray Allen for various periods.
James played in the 108-89 win at New Orleans two days after the loss to the Bulls but then sat out the next three to nurse a sore hamstring. He returned in the win over the 76ers but played only 30 minutes, matching his fewest on the court in three months.
Ray Allen also returned against Philly after sitting out the win at Charlotte the night before with what was called a “mild ankle sprain.”
And Chalmers was back for his second appearance after missing the previous three games with an ankle injury.
“Obviously, it was good to see the guys who had been sitting out get their minutes,” Spoelstra said.
But Bosh was on the bench against the 76ers with a knee injury, and Wade, who played at New Orleans to close out March, missed his fourth consecutive game with an ankle injury.
To sum up, here is a game-by-game list of the players who have not been available since the loss to the Bulls:
March 29, at New Orleans (108-89 Heat win): Chalmers.
March 31, at San Antonio (88-86 Heat win): James, Wade, Chalmers.
April 2, vs. New York (102-90 Heat loss): James, Wade, Chalmers
April 5, at Charlotte (89-79 Heat win): James, Wade, Allen.
April 6, vs. Philadelphia (106-87 Heat win): Wade, Bosh.
The Heat will have had a couple of days to recuperate before taking on Milwaukee at AmericanAirline Arena in their next outing on Tuesday night. They go to Washington the next night, then finish with three of their last four regular-season games at home.
With the way his injury -- sustained in a fall in the win over the Hornets -- is lingering, Wade likely will continue to sit for a couple of games.
It’s not a matter of grave concern, but the playoffs do begin in a couple of weeks.
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