The Miami Heat are in the midst of a season-ending four-game road trip.
They are in a battle for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and must avoid a sixth consecutive loss, or the season will end without them.
The Warriors are the only team in the NBA that the Heat are playing this week.
But what happens if the Heat lose?
“The first question is, what do we do if we lose?
What’s the next thing we do?
It’s a real difficult situation,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said.
“We have to stay focused on the job at hand.
It’s all about the Heat.
The team is where it’s at, but we have to be focused on this next game.”
The Heat have been outscored by an average of 20.5 points in the last four games.
“It’s definitely tough, but you’ve got to find a way to stay in the game, which is the whole thing,” said forward Josh McRoberts, who has played only nine games this season due to a broken foot.
With the Heat trailing the Toronto Raptors by three games and the Los Angeles Clippers trailing them by three more, the Heat will try to stay alive in the Western Conference playoff race by winning two of three.
On Thursday night, they host the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Miami is tied for fifth in the West and will try for its seventh straight win over the Thunder.
Wade said the Heat can’t focus on just one game.
They’ve got a lot of other things on their plate, he said.
It’s going to be a hard-fought game for us.
“The last time the Heat played the Thunder was last season.
The Heat lost 103-98.
The last time they lost in Oklahoma City was March 4, 2016, with Wade in the starting lineup.
Miami is coming off a 108-102 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
Tristan Thompson scored a career-high 24 points, and LeBron James added 22 points.
After the game on Wednesday, James said the Thunder had a great game and a chance to win the game.
The two teams played a close game on Sunday and lost 114-113.
This time, the Thunder were up by 13 points in one period and held a 55-42 edge.
James and Wade have had back-to-back games in the playoffs.
Wade scored 28 points in Game 2 on Jan. 3.
Thompson had 15 points in that game, and the Heat shot 57.3 percent.
In the second half of the game in Oklahoma, the Rockets and Raptors tied for the NBA’s second-worst record with four turnovers in the final 13 minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Raptors committed seven turnovers.
At the half, the Cavaliers were shooting 47.5 percent.
The Rockets were at 38.5.
Thunder forward Kevin Durant led the team with 19 points.
James, who leads the league in scoring with 21.1 per game, had 14 points.
