As summer heats up, the NBA season is winding down with all 30 teams heading towards the offseason. But for the Miami Heat, they got an early taste of summer, bowing out in the first round with a five game exit handed to them by the Philadelphia 76ers.
The matchup was supposed to be one of the most compelling of the first round, but instead the Heat were abruptly introduced to their current reality. They are much further away from contention than they thought, and face a franchise-altering offseason to address the future of the team.
A five game series typically confirms a vast talent disparity between the two teams, as was the case between the Heat and the Sixers, a team many choose as the future of the Eastern Conference.