Miami Heat: The ideal pathway to make the NBA Finals

The ideal pathway for the Miami Heat to make the NBA Finals: Round 2 – Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, or Philadelphia 76ers

If the Heat wanted to set a super lofty goal, earning the one seed would give them the easiest path in the playoffs. This would hypothetically mean that they are able to avoid both the Bucks and Nets until the Conference Finals.

Regardless, this is still the ideal pathway if the Heat want to make the Finals. Avoiding the Nets and Bucks would make their life a whole lot easier.

For the purpose of this exercise, let’s say the Heat clinch the two seed. If everything plays out according to seed, this would mean they would play the three seed in Round 2.

This would likely be the Nets or Bucks. However, if the Celtics, Hawks, or 76ers are able to pull off an upset, or even overtake them in the standings, the Heat would get an easier matchup.

This is not to say that the Celtics, Hawks, and 76ers are bad teams, they just don’t match up with Miami as well as the other two options. The Miami Heat would much rather see any of those three teams rather than Milwaukee or Brooklyn in Round 2.

Of those three teams, the 76ers would probably be the easiest to deal with, depending on the Ben Simmons situation. As for the Celtics and Hawks, they are pretty close.

Either way, the Heat have some great defenders on their roster who should be able to deal with the firepower of any of these teams. The key here is that they avoid the Nets and Bucks until they can’t anymore.