As the Miami Heat prepare to face off with the Indiana Pacers in round one of the playoffs, a look at their three most important players in this matchup.
The regular season’s finished, and the Miami Heat are slated to play the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The winner of this series will go on to play the victor of the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic series in the Conference SemiFinals.
Game One will tip-off on Tuesday, scheduled for 4:30 pm est. The series itself isn’t thought to be much of a thriller, with the Pacers missing big man Domantas Sabonis, and All-Star guard Victor Oladipo not yet completely recovered from the ruptured quad he suffered in January of 19′.
For the Heat, they’re preparing to roll out a largely healthy roster. The only exception is forward Derick Jones Jr, whose status is day-to-day due to a neck strain suffered late last weekend.
Given the personnel that’s facing off in this series, who are the most important players for the Miami Heat, those whose play could directly influence the outcome of this round one?
If rookie point guard Kendrick Nunn can break his slump, the Miami Heat will have more strengths than weaknesses against the Pacers.
Everyone knows that the biggest concern with Miami’s roster makeup is Kendrick Nunn’s having seemingly forgotten how to shoot the basketball. He’s averaging just 10.8 points inside the bubble on 31 percent shooting from the field and 20 percent shooting from deep.
It could be credited to the erratic opening Nunn’s had in the season’s restart. He didn’t join the team until their third scrimmage game, due to having tested positive for COVID-19 back in mid-July. Shortly after that, he left the bubble to tend to a personal matter.
Maybe the consistency of a playoff series will help Nunn to regain his form?
The point guard’s only had productive performances against the Pacers this season, helping Miami capture three out of four wins over Indiana. But if he can’t break his shooting slump through this series, it could stretch a game or two longer than the Heat would care to play.
Andre Iguodala will be tasked with picking up the slack left in Derrick Jones Jr’s absence and that’s an important role as any against the Pacers.
The overall side effects of Derrick Jones Jr’s absence in the longterm aren’t too worrisome. But he’s been no less than their second-best player against Indiana in any game this season.
Jones is averaging 14.3 points and six rebounds in the two team’s first three meetings, of which were all Miami Heat victories. If he misses significant time in this first round, it’ll be veteran wing Andre Iguodala‘s number who’s called to help fill the void.
The 16-year veteran is averaging 4.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and a block per game for the Heat in his 21 appearances for the team this season. He’s shown at times that he can still tap into some of the defensive prowess that’s made him so great for so many years before.
Jimmy Butler is by far the most important player in this matchup with Indiana.
There is no player more important to any playoff series than the best guy on the floor. That’s what the Miami Heat have with Jimmy Butler. Any hope for the Pacers relies on his play.
His first season in South Beach couldn’t have gone better, as he finished the regular season averaging 19.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, six assists, and just under two steals (1.8) per game.
While Butler has been a driving force of this Miami offense, it’s his defense that may prove the most crucial in this series. As many of you know, his defense on T.J. Warren has been the talk of this rivalry all season long. They’ll be matched up again in this series.
Warren has been on fire inside the bubble, averaging 31 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game for Indiana. It’s worth noting that his worst performance of the eight seeding games was against Butler and the Heat, where he scored just 12 points in the loss.
But that only means that Warren is going to come out determined to prove it a fluke performance. With Butler tasked with guarding him, he’s cemented as Miami’s most important player.
As previously noted, Game One of this series will be on Tuesday, with tip-off scheduled for 4:30 pm est. Coverage will be provided by TNT and TNT Overtime. Watch for Kendrick Nunn, Andre Iguodala, and Jimmy Butler to have a large impact on this series.