Jimmy Butler: Heat Have to Play 'Exact Opposite' of Play-In Loss

It’s one win or done for the Heat, and star wing Jimmy Butler said they sure have to be a lot better than they were in Tuesday’s home-playoff loss to the Hawks.

Miami will next meet the winner of the Raptors-Bulls play-in game on Wednesday. That second play-in game is set for Friday.

“We’d have to stay confident,” Butler said of the Heat’s next game, via Nick Friedell of ESPN. “We have to know we are capable of winning, if we start out the right way and if we rebound obviously. But it’s just, I don’t know, shots don’t go in, we foul — that’s never the recipe for success with us.

“So come Friday, we’ve got to play, like, legit the exact opposite that we played tonight.”

The Heat finished with the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, in terms of regular-season standings. But thanks to the play-in loss, they now have just two options: The eighth seed, or miss the playoffs altogether.

Miami is aiming for the first option, win, and get in the playoffs to face the top-seeded Bucks.

“At least we have a lot of experience,” coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season. Nothing about this season has been easy, so we’re going to do this the hard way. We’re going to get back to work tomorrow, regroup, put our arms around each other, get to the film and get better from this.”