Chris Bosh isn't one of those guys who likes to dish out B.S.

He's a straight shooter.

So when he was asked after Tuesday night's humbling 119-101 spanking at the hands of the Spurs where the Heat stand in the NBA heirarchy, Bosh pretty much laid it out there for what it truly is. As much as the Heat wants to believe it can be a contender, Miami just really isn't right now.

"I think we're in the middle," Bosh said. "I think if you look at the West, look at the East, I think Toronto separated themselves a little bit. The top three here in East and the top four in the West are pretty much in a league of their own. And everybody else is still trying to figure things out and trying to get over a certain hump.

"With us, we're still trying to find consistency. Not so much over weeks to week, but over a month. That's our next step. We have to put together a good stretch over weeks. We'll have the opportunity when we get back. But with that said, we're 2, 2 1/2 games out of third place. That's within reach for us. I think that's one of the goals we need to have when we come back from the All-Star break."

Finishing third wasn't the goal at the start of the season for Miami. But it pretty much has become that now. With the Cavaliers (37-14) and Raptors (35-16) way out in front now, the Heat (29-24) are essentially gunning to finish ahead of the Celtics (31-23), Hawks (30-24), Pacers (28-24), Bulls (27-24), Pistons (27-26) and Hornets (26-26) the rest of the way.

The No. 3 seed is nothing to brag about. And there's no guarantee this Heat team -- devoid of three-point shooting and so dependent on defensive dominance -- could even win a first-round playoff series.

But avoiding LeBron James and the Cavaliers in a potential second round series and having to potentially face Toronto feels like a much easier path.

As far as the schedule is concerned, the second half won't be easy out of the gate. Miami opens in Atlanta on Feb. 19 and will face five teams with winning records (Hawks, Pacers, Warriors, Bulls) among their first seven opponents.

But overall, Miami will only have to face seven opponents after the All-Star break who already have 30 wins or more (at Hawks, vs. Warriors, at Celtics twice, vs. Cavs, at Raptors and at Spurs).

Miami will also only play against 14 teams who are currently .500 or better. That's tied for second-fewest in the Eastern Conference entering Wednesday's final slate of games.

The Raptors and Bucks (20) face more winning teams than anyone else followed by the Hawks (19), Cavaliers (19), Magic (19), Wizards (17), Bulls (16) and Celtics (15).

The Heat are 6-11 this season against 30-plus-win teams and 23-13 against everyone else. If you take the Heat's winning percentage against those 30-win teams (.353) and against everyone else (.639) and do the math with the second half schedule, Miami projects to finish at 45-37.

Will that be good enough to finish third in the East?

It wasn't last year. That would have landed Miami sixth.

"There is still a lot more work to do," Dwyane Wade said. "The first half of the season we have had some good wins and good moments and I thought we had some not-so-good losses with a few bad moments here-and-there. But we are still in it and we are still in the thick of things.”