The Miami Heat had a chance to stay in the driver’s seat on Saturday evening. With a matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks before them, they would have the opportunity to maintain a lead on the New York Knicks in the playoff seeding race.
What that lead meant was a first round matchup against either the Hawks or the Knicks, the Hawks at the time, while they still had a slim chance to climb to the fourth seed themselves. Well, on Saturday, the fire on that hope was all but dashed out.
To start at the top of it all, the flame started to flicker a bit when it was announced that Jimmy Butler wouldn’t be playing. While it wasn’t the same eye that kept him out of the second half of a recent game against the Boston Celtics, he was dealing with some back tightness on Saturday.
They would miss him too, as the Bucks came out and jumped right on them. After they jumped, they never looked back, staying on Miami’s neck for the entire night.
The Miami Heat couldn’t get it done on Saturday without Jimmy Butler, losing to the Bucks and losing ground in the playoff seeding race.
They handled their business and that was that. The Bucks led from wire to wire, winning the game, 108-122.
By slapping the Heat at sixth with that defeat, likely their finishing NBA Playoffs seed, it means that they will see this very same Bucks team in an opening round series. Most of that series though, all if we are that fortunate, will feature Jimmy Butler though.
The Miami Heat could have given a better effort on Saturday, but they are also a totally different team when Jimmy Butler is in the lineup. You could also tell that they were going up against a team that wants to beat them every single time they see them, probably based on last season’s playoffs and that they had the opportunity to do it on Saturday without said team’s superstar, Jimmy Butler.
In any event, the fortunate part about it all is this. Everyone gets a chance to see and do it all over again pretty soon, right?
Then, though, it will be for all the marbles. Well, a chance at them, sort of.