East play-in tournament set, Adebayo enters COVID-19 protocols. What it all means for Heat
The Miami Heat entered the final day of the regular season knowing that it will open the playoffs on April 17 at FTX Arena as the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The opponent won’t be determined until Friday.
But the Heat now also knows that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets could be eliminated as a potential first-round matchup as soon as Tuesday night.
As the Heat closes its regular season on Sunday against the Magic in Orlando, there are four potential teams that it can meet in the first round: the Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets. The play-in tournament that runs from Tuesday through Friday will determine the No. 8 seed that Miami faces in the opening round of the playoffs.
With Sunday’s win over the Indiana Pacers at Barclays Center on the final day of the regular season, the Nets clinched seventh place in the East. The seeding for the conference’s four-team play-in tournament closed with the Nets at No. 7, Cavaliers at No. 8, Hawks at No. 9 and Hornets at No. 10.
What does this all mean?
Brooklyn’s seventh-place finish to the regular season doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a first-round playoff series between the Heat and Nets, but it does reduce the chances of that matchup.
That’s because the seventh-place Nets will now host a play-in matchup against the eighth-place Cavaliers on Tuesday (7 p.m., TNT). The winner of that game — and Brooklyn will be favored — will clinch the seventh playoff seed in the East and a first-round series against the No. 2 seed, avoiding the top-seeded Heat in the opening round.
However, a Heat-Nets first-round series will still be very possible if the Nets lose to the Cavaliers on Tuesday.
The rest of the East’s play-in tournament includes a matchup between the No. 9 Hawks and No. 10 Hornets on Wednesday in Atlanta (7 p.m., ESPN). The loser of this game will be eliminated from playoff contention, while the winner will move one step closer to qualifying for the playoffs.
The loser of the Nets-Cavaliers matchup will host the winner of the Hawks-Hornets matchup on Friday (Time TBD, ESPN), and the winner of that game will clinch the eighth playoff seed in the East and a first-round series against the Heat.
The Heat won the regular-season series against three of its four potential first-round opponents — 3-1 vs. Nets, 3-1 vs. Hawks and 4-0 vs. Hornets. Miami finished the regular season with a 2-2 record against Cleveland.
Among the top six playoff seeds in the East, only three teams are locked into their positions: the No. 1 Heat, No. 5 Toronto Raptors and No. 6 Chicago Bulls. Depending on the results of Sunday night’s games, the Milwaukee Bucks can finish as the No. 2 or No. 3 seed, the Boston Celtics can finish as the No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4 seed, and the Philadelphia 76ers can finish as the No. 3 or No. 4 seed.
The Heat will have six full days off for rest and preparation between Sunday’s regular-season finale and its first playoff game on April 17. The Heat’s first-round opponent will have just one day off between clinching the East’s eighth seed on Friday and the start its playoff series in Miami.
ADEBAYO IN PROTOCOLS
The week-long break is coming at an opportune time for the Heat, as starting center Bam Adebayo entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Sunday. But the hope is he’ll be able to rejoin the team in time for the start of its playoff run on April 17.
The quarantine period is five days for asymptomatic and vaccinated NBA players to return if testing data shows they’re no longer at risk to be infectious. With Adebayo entering COVID-19 protocols on Sunday, his five-day quarantine period would run through Friday unless he produces consecutive negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart before then.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra returned for Friday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks after spending most of the week in health and safety protocols. Spoelstra learned he tested positive for COVID-19 when the Heat was subject to a round of testing upon entering Canada for last week’s game against the Toronto Raptors, in order to return home because of U.S. restrictions.
But COVID-19 testing is no longer required by the NBA and is done only on a voluntary basis or if a player reports symptoms, unless a team is returning home from playing a game in Toronto.
Adebayo also missed time while in protocols after testing positive for COVID-19 in the summer of 2020 before the Heat’s playoff run to the NBA Finals in the Walt Disney World bubble.
Along with missing Adebayo, the Heat also ruled out Jimmy Butler (rest), Dewayne Dedmon (right ankle sprain), Tyler Herro (left knee soreness), Kyle Lowry (rest) and P.J. Tucker (right calf strain) for Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Magic. Markieff Morris is also unavailable as an active scratch.
This story was originally published April 10, 2022 at 6:04 PM.
