Erik Spoelstra Apr 30, 2023; New York, New York, USA; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra coaches against the New York Knicks during the third quarter of game one of the 2023 NBA Eastern Conference semifinal playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

If a team falls short of its end goal or fails to meet the expectations of a fanbase, usually there is someone who has to serve as a proverbial scapegoat. This leads to coaches and front office members getting fired or even players getting traded, whether they deserve that fate or not. For better or worse, the modern-day sports fan wants somebody to be held responsible for shortcomings.

Though, if you think that should be the case with the Miami Heat, who are on the verge of blowing a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, you may not understand Pat Riley or the team’s path to get to this point. The Heat were lucky enough to back into the playoffs as a No. 8 seed and are now just one win away from the NBA Finals.

The problem here is the Heat have been one win away for three games now and have allowed the Boston Celtics to erase a 3-0 deficit.

So, when a Twitter user presented that the Miami Heat should fire head coach Erik Spoelstra—if the team blows a 3-0 lead and loses Game 7 on Monday night—it was met with a lot of pushback.

It could be argued that Spoelstra is the best coach in the league. And few would push back. At the same time, if Spoelstra was ever fired by the Heat, which was suggested in a tweet that now had 4.8 million views, other teams would fire their head coaches to have a shot at pursuing the 52-year-old.

Not to put Spoelstra on a pedestal, but it’s more likely that his coaching career will play out like Bill Belichick’s, where he’ll coach the team until he no longer wants to. So, if the Heat were to lose Game 7, it would be a jaw-dropping decision if they decided to fire Spoelstra.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.