The Miami Heat still have tough matchups with the Celtics and Bucks to navigate before season’s end.
Sweeping the Celtics will be crucial down the stretch —
Guess who else has a cream-puff schedule to finish the regular season? The Celtics’ SOS is 29th, with games against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic, and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Boston has played down to competition plenty of times this season, as have the Miami Heat and to be totally fair here, but banking on them to drop crucial games in the final lap of the season would be playing with fire. Taking both clashes with the C’s is step one.
Closing with big wins against hot teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks is step two. The Miami Heat should be more than fired up to do this though, with the seeding, reputation, and just plain vitriol of it all between the Heat and each of those teams in play .
Matching up with the Bucks —
All of this is a battle to get out of the play-in tournament and take on the Bucks in the first round—a possibly tantalizing prospect for the Miami Heat after handling the Wisconsin squad in the bubble last year.
The defense built a wall out at nearly half-court to slow down Giannis Antetokounmpo, which bogged down the Bucks offense. But this is not the same team as the one bounced from the bubble on last season.
The Bucks jumped from 18th to 2nd in 3-point percentage and from eighth to sixth in offensive rating. Jrue Holiday has also had a huge impact for the Bucks on both ends, boosting the net rating of Milwaukee from 2.7 to 9.2 when he is on the court.