Can Miami Heat fight off the New York teams to avoid play-in scenario?
By Noah Decker
The Miami Heat Don’t Only Have The Knicks To Worry About, But Brooklyn Too
The second team that the Heat must take care of business against is the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets traded away their superstar duo of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant before the trade deadline.
Losing that type of talent almost guarantees that a team will fall in the standings. That being said, the Nets are no joke.
The players they received in return for Durant have provided the team with better depth. While they have no true star player on the roster right now, Mikal Bridges appears to be a rising star for them.
The Nets will remain a competitive team, so they should not fall out of playoff position before the season ends. The Miami Heat are sitting two games behind the Nets for sixth place in the standings.
They play one more game against the Nets in late March. Just like the situation with the Knicks, this is a must-win for the Heat.
Not only do the Heat need to close the gap against the Nets but losing that game would yield the tiebreaker to Brooklyn. The last time the Heat played the Nets, Mikal Bridges dropped a career-high 45 points.
The Heat will need to do a much better job covering him. If they contain him, they should have a better chance of winning this game.
Time is running out this regular season. The Heat need to go on a winning streak now.
Being in the play-in almost guarantees them a first-round matchup against the Bucks or Celtics, which is not a favorable first-round matchup. Making it to the sixth spot would likely put them up against the 76ers, which isn’t the best matchup either.
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However, Philly is a more favorable matchup than the Bucks or Celtics and it is certainly a series that the Miami Heat could win. To avoid any unfavorable first-round matchups, the Heat need to take care of their business concerning the boroughs of New York for the remainder of the season.