Miami has been fighting for their playoff lives as the season enters the homestretch. The Heat sit at 36-38 on the season after beating the Detroit Pistons 97-96 on a last second buzzer beater on Tuesday night to secure the eighth seed against one of their biggest challengers for that spot.Their club saw Hassan Whiteside assert his dominance over the course of the game with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting in his 30 minutes on the floor. The biggest of these two points were the ones he scored at the end to snatch the victory for his team.Whiteside out-jumped Andre Drummond for the game-winning basket. No matter what happens to this team, they will not roll over and die, even when things looked pretty bleak after Dion Waiters went down with an injury recently.Whiteout’s big moment is the first buzzer-beating win for the franchise since LeBron James’ epic finish in the first game of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Miami’s front office has to be thrilled with the growth shown by their huge investment this year.A year ago, the former D-Leaguer decided to stay put with the franchise that gave him the opportunity to showcase his talent in front of the world. He signed for a four-year deal worth $98 million dollars in South Beach and has seen his role expand this year.

Dwyane Wade departed for Chicago during free agency and it has fallen to Goran Dragic and the young big. Flash going home has left the often-goofy center to deal with the realities of being an alpha dog on a team trying to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

Spoelstra told the media after this recent huge win that he has seen a change in Whiteside from a year ago, when he was more of an unknown player with immense potential.

He said: “Hassan, he is maybe for the first time in his career, he is playing more for the guys next to him than he is for himself.”

That is a backhanded compliment to be certain, but the team’s veterans like Chris Bosh and Wade both leveled similar comments at the center during the 2016 campaign. Now the organisation has a signature moment with their young big.

It’s all smiles now for the Heat and their ship looks like it might just sail on to the playoffs. Whiteside and his co-pilot Dragic will determine if it’s more of a detour or a longer journey from there.