What would finishing as East’s No. 1 seed mean for Heat? And a look at playoff scenarios
As the final week of the NBA’s regular season begins, the Miami Heat is on track to finish as the Eastern Conference’s top playoff seed.
Sunday’s impressive short-handed road win against the Toronto Raptors moved the Heat two games ahead of the second-place Boston Celtics, and 2.5 games ahead of the third-place Milwaukee Bucks and fourth-place Philadelphia 76ers in the East standings. That’s a significant lead for the Heat with just three regular-season games left, as it won Sunday without coach Erik Spoelstra on the sideline because of the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols and four rotation players because of injuries.
A 2-1 finish would guarantee the Heat the top spot in the East regardless of what those other teams do, but losses by those chasing would make Miami’s road to clinching the top spot even easier. There are no NBA games Monday, with all basketball eyes instead on the national championship clash between Kansas and North Carolina.
“To say you don’t want to say you won the East, I think that’s a lie,” veteran forward P.J. Tucker said, as the Heat opens the final week of the regular season Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets at FTX Arena (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “You want to say you won. Obviously, you’re not going to do anything to not win it. If you have an opportunity to win the East, you want to win the East.”
The Heat, which has won four consecutive games, is looking to enter the playoffs as the East’s No. 1 seed for the fourth time in franchise history. Miami also pulled it off in the 2012-13, 2004-05 and 1998-99 seasons.
“It’s a tribute to the coaching staff,” team captain Udonis Haslem said of what that accomplishment would mean for the Heat. “You bring in new guys, you bring in a new point guard and you bring in P.J. and you add a lot of different pieces. You got seven, eight undrafted guys and you’re still able to in some shape, form or fashion put it together and get it rolling and finish at the top of the East.
“If we’re able to do that, I think it’s more a tribute to the coaching staff, first and foremost. Then secondly, to the players and our commitment.”
While the Heat’s position in the East is becoming clearer as it closes in on the No. 1 seed, it’s first-round playoff opponent remains a mystery.
As of Monday, the Heat could open the playoffs against any of six possible opponents on the weekend of April 16-17: Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets or Brooklyn Nets. Clarity on Miami’s first-round opponent could be more than a week away, too, because the play-in tournament that runs from April 12-15 determines the No. 7 and 8 playoff seeds that play the No. 1 and 2 seeds in each conference.
“We don’t really pay attention to that,” Heat forward Max Strus said of the playoff race. “We don’t talk about it too much. All we really care about is winning games. When the dust settles, where ever we land at and we’ll go from there.”
But Heat players have heard the buzz surrounding a potential first-round matchup against the Nets, which have already clinched their spot in the play-in tournament. The Nets have struggled with inconsistent play throughout the season and will need to win at least one and maybe two games in the play-in tournament just to get into the playoffs, but the possibility of facing Brooklyn’s superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the opening round does not seem ideal for one of the East’s top teams.
“I know everybody is talking about Brooklyn may be eighth, seventh and be in that position,” Tucker said. “That’s going to be tough for somebody. It’s messed up if you’re No. 1 and you got to play KD and Kyrie, but it is what it is.”
When asked about the thought of facing the Nets in the first round, Haslem shook his head and said sarcastically: “Congratulations for winning the East.”
“The East is loaded, man. There’s no easy way to the Finals,” Haslem added. “There’s no easy way out.”
While finishing the regular season at the top of the East may not necessarily result in an easy first-round matchup this season, there’s a clear advantage to entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
As the East’s top seed, the Heat would own home-court advantage through at least the first three rounds of the playoffs. That means a potential Game 7 would be played at FTX Arena against any East playoff opponent.
“It changes the game and it makes a big difference going on the road,” Tucker said of having the home-court edge. “It makes it tougher, for sure. I see it as an advantage.”
But Tucker knows having home-court advantage doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything after winning the NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks last season. The Bucks won the title despite not holding the home-court edge in the second round or NBA Finals.
That’s why the Heat is more focused on fine-tuning its game as the postseason nears rather than its spot in the standings.
“You want to be playing good basketball. You want to feel like you’re improving and you’re addressing things that need to be addressed,” Spoelstra said when asked how much priority he puts on finishing as the No. 1 seed.
“And then there’s the competitive aspect about it, that it’s always good to compete for something. It’s not the end-all, be-all. But it’s a really competitive race in the East and this is what you always want. You want to have the games have meaning and context and significance to them. And that’s basically every game right now in the Eastern Conference.”
