The Miami Heat are now in control of their own destiny. FiveThirtyEight Sports seems to think that fate will take them all the way.
The Miami Heat are now the toast of the town. Turn on any sports show or broadcast that remotely involves or covers the NBA and that’s what you will now hear.
It hasn’t always been this way though and even at the beginning of this whole socio-athletic experiment we call The Bubble, most still took the Miami Heat as sort of a joke. They always have though, so that is and was no shocker.
Way back at the beginning of the season, at the end of the final preseason game to be more precise, one popular sports analytics and predictor outlet had them as the team with the 16th best chance to win the NBA Finals, grouped with 20 or so more teams with less than a one percent chance to win it all.
Heck, they only had them as the team with the 12th highest percentage to make the NBA Finals, a two percent chance along with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The three of those teams all sat above the remaining 16 teams with a one percent chance or less to make the Finals and right below the Utah Jazz, and laughably, the Indiana Pacers who both had a four percent chance of making the NBA Finals.
The Miami Heat are used to being the underdogs. They are now the favorites though, according to one popular source.
Now, here we are at the end of the season, by hook or by crook due to our unforeseen world situation and the Miami Heat are still alive. Observingly so, this same outlet has now changed their tune.
The popular sports metrics, analytics, and predictions outlet that we all know and love in FiveThirtyEight now has the Miami Heat as their top team to win the NBA Title. Yea, you read that right.
They went from having less than a one percent chance to win it all at the beginning of the year to now being the favorite. Being up 2-0 against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat now have a 71 percent chance to win the East and a 46 percent chance of winning the entire thing.
They must think that the East is stronger or that the winner of the Western Conference Finals will be worn out though because they have the down 2-0 Boston Celtics as the team with the second-highest percentage to win it all. They sit at 22 percent, above the two teams from the West.
If it means anything, they seem to think we are headed for a Miami Heat v. LeBron James NBA Finals though, with them having a 56 percent chance to make the Finals over the Nuggets’ 44 percent. Again though, both of their chances to win the NBA Finals sit way below either team in the East, with LA owning an 18 percent chance to win it all and Denver just a 14 percent chance.
Either way it goes, the Miami Heat will be ready. First though, they must finish handling their business against Boston, to which I am sure they will.
We will see you all on Saturday! We can’t wait!