Off the wire
• 1st LD: Early results show Dominican Republic president heading for re-election  • Interview: New Zealand's biggest city "go-between" in China-U.S. engagement: Auckland Mayor  • 350-year-old "first map of Australia" arrives in Melbourne for conservation  • Most accidents in Albania caused by poor driving culture: statistics  • High-tech incubator of China-New Zealand innovation launches  • More business hotels land in Seoul for increasing individual Chinese travelers  • Xinhua China news advisory -- May 16  • Aussies tricked out of 166 mln USD by crafty scammers in 2015: report  • Aust'n police launch campaign to tackle motorbike road toll   • Interview: Leicester to train young Chinese players, Thai vice chairman  
You are here: 　 Home

Miami Heat's "snake-bitten" season ends with game 7 loss to Raptors

Xinhua, May 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Miami Heat's playoff run ended in a 116-89 loss to the Toronto Raptors in game seven of their Eastern Conference semifinals series on Sunday afternoon.

"Heck of a series, heck of a year," said Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra following the loss in Toronto. "It was a privilege to be part of a seven game competitive series like this."

Following a disappointing 2014-15 season that saw the team miss the postseason for the first time in six seasons, the team returned to the playoffs with a 48-34 record, the third best record in the Eastern Conference.

Miami reached the postseason despite being without All-Star Chris Bosh for the final two months of the season due to blood clot in his leg. The 32-year-old missed the second half of the season prior with a blood blot in one of this lungs.

"I feel very bad for CB (Chris Bosh) because know how much this game means to him and I know how much CB means to me, I really miss CB," said Spoelstra. "That's why the team was able to get to this point, they never made excuses, and they never felt sorry for themselves."

In the final 29 games without Bosh, the team finished with a 19-10 record to gain home court advantage and capture the three-seed.

"Not quite as far as we wanted to go but certainly the guys in that locker room should be proud of this season," Spoelstra added.

Despite the bounce-back year, Miami's other All-Star Dwyane Wade is frustrated with what could have been.

"Getting to the Eastern Conference Finals was our goal. Goran (Dragic) and I have been together for a year and a half and we've been snake-bitten a little bit," said Wade following the loss.

"All you want is a chance. I wish we could have gotten a full chance to see what we could of do. With what we had, we fought tooth and nails to get to that goal of the Eastern Conference Finals. Unfortunately we fell one game short."

The 34-year-old Wade has played his entire career with Miami and has missed the playoffs only twice in 13 seasons.

Despite his impressive resume of 12 All-Star appearances and three NBA titles, Wade is hoping to bring the franchise another title before he retires.

"For myself and a lot of guys on this team, it's not always 'another season, another season.' You want to take advantage of the opportunities," said Wade. "Hopefully going forward, the organization is not snake-bitten like we have been the last two years losing key players." Endit