Miami Heat: 5 Toughest Matchups As Season Comes To A Close
By Isiah Curry
The Miami Heat don’t have any ‘cupcakes’, as every team will be ready for the reigning Eastern Conference champs.
With last season’s playoffs fresh on their minds when they have met this season, the remaining matchups between the C’s and Miami are sure to be just as intense as any.
4. Boston Celtics
The Heat will wrap up their two final regular season matchups on May 9th and 11th with the Celtics, who are just a half-game ahead of Miami at 31-28. Miami defeated Boston in six games in the NBA playoffs last year and since then, the Celtics have played the Heat just once.
The Celtics haven’t been quite as dominant as they were last season, a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference just a season ago. Their ability to play as a team has been left in question, even with the superstar growth of Jayson Tatum and newly-crowned NBA All-Star, Jaylen Brown.
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In their last matchup on January 6th, the Celtics escaped the Heat, 107-105, which ended on a game-winning put-back from Boston rookie, Payton Pritchard. The Miami Heat should be the team entering this contest with the last matchup on their minds and Jimmy Butler shouldn’t let them forget how it ended up.
3. Dallas Mavericks
The last time Miami shared the court with Dallas was on New Year’s Day, where they lost 93-83 to the Mavericks on their home floor. The Heat struggled to provide efficiency in their loss to Dallas, shooting 37 percent from the field and going a putrid 7-33 from beyond the arc.
Mavericks All-Star, Luka Doncic, had 27 points, seven assists, and led both teams with 15 rebounds.
As the Miami Heat do in the East, Dallas currently ranks seventh in the Western Conference and are hoping to avoid the play-in tournament, as they’re currently ranked ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, and the San Antonio Spurs.
Dallas is just 0.5 games behind the Portland Trail-Blazers for the sixth seed in the West. They’ll surely be looking to move up.