Nets off Heat’s list of potential first-round opponents. Heat’s Game 1 start time announced
The top-seeded Miami Heat won’t know its first-round opponent until Friday. But the Heat now knows it won’t begin its postseason run against Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets.
With Tuesday night’s 115-108 win over the eighth-place Cleveland Cavaliers at Barclays Center in the first game of the Eastern Conference’s play-in tournament, the seventh-place Nets clinched the East’s No. 7 playoff seed and will face the second-seeded Boston Celtics in a best-of-7 first-round series.
There are still three potential first-round opponents for the Heat: the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Cavaliers. Miami will open the playoffs against one of those teams on Sunday at FTX Arena, with Game 1 set for 1 p.m. (TNT, Bally Sports Sun).
Game 2 will be on Tuesday at FTX Arena, with the time to be determined. The Heat will travel to Game 3 on Friday night (time TBA) and remain on the road for Game 4 on Sunday at 7 p.m.
The series would return to Miami for a Game 5 if needed on Tuesday, April 26; return if needed to the road city for a Game 6 on Thursday, April 28; and return to Miami for Game 7 if needed on Saturday, April 30.
The remaining games of the East’s play-in tournament will determine the No. 8 playoff seed that the Heat will meet in the opening round.
Next up is a matchup between the ninth-place Hawks and the 10th-place Hornets on Wednesday in Atlanta (7 p.m., ESPN). The loser of this game will be eliminated from playoff contention to cut the Heat’s list of potential first-round opponents down to two teams, while the winner will move one step closer to qualifying for the playoffs.
The Cavaliers will then host the winner of the Hawks-Hornets matchup on Friday (7:30 p.m., 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 two of its three potential first-round opponents — 3-1 vs. Hawks and 4-0 vs. Hornets. Miami finished the regular season with a 2-2 record against Cleveland.
The other East first-round matchups are set: No. 2 Celtics vs. No. 7 Nets, No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 6 Chicago Bulls and No. 4 Philadelphia 76ers vs. No. 5 Toronto Raptors. The bracket is set up for the winner of the Heat’s first-round series to take on the winner of the 76ers-Raptors series in the second round.
The soonest the Heat could face the Bucks, Celtics or Nets in the playoffs is in the conference finals.
The Heat has six full days off for rest and preparation between this past Sunday’s regular-season finale and its first playoff game this upcoming Sunday. 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.
After taking Monday and Tuesday off for rest, the Heat returns to practice on Wednesday at FTX Arena.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams was named the Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced Tuesday. The award is voted on by the 30 NBA head coaches.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was one of six to receive votes for the honor, along with Willie Green from the New Orleans Pelicans, Taylor Jenkins from the Memphis Grizzlies, Tyronn Lue from the Los Angeles Clippers, Gregg Popovich from the San Antonio Spurs and Williams.
The NBA will announce its own Coach of the Year Award that’s voted on by a panel of media members in the coming weeks during the playoffs.
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 9:30 PM.
