With the Philadelphia 76ers’ Tue. loss to the Phoenix Suns in Disney Globe, the Miami Heat have clinched at the least the No. Five playoff seed within the Eastern Conference.
The Heat’s list of possible first-round opponents is as of now lowered to either the 76ers (or) Indiana(IN) Pacers.
The 76ers’ loss removed the No. Three Boston Celtics as a possible opening-round opponent for the Heat, with Indiana(IN) (or) Philadelphia as of now to face Boston.
Philadelphia’s loss also locked the Heat into the half of the bracket with the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks. The champion of the Heat’s first-round show going to play the champion of the opening-round No. One Bucks-No. Eight Orlando Magic show. The Heat are 2-One over the Bucks this season, however have been blown out last week by Milwaukee.
Being seeded No. four (or) No. Five essentially is moot, with no homecourt advantage within the NBA’s isolation setting in Disney Globe, with all games to be performed within the crunch of fans in the Wide Globe of Sports complex.
Accessing Wed.’s play, the middle of the Eastern Conference stands as:
No. four Heat, 44-27;
No. Five Pacers, 43-28;
No. 6 76ers, 42-29.
Every tandem has 2 games rest, with the Heat holding the tiebreakers over the Pacers & 76ers, & with Indiana(IN) holding the tiebreaker over the 76ers.
The Heat could lock up the No. four seed with a victory in either of their own 2 rest games (or) 1 extra Indiana(IN) loss. The Heat play the Oklahoma(OK) Thunder on Wed. in Eight p.m., & afterwards close their own regular-season plan Fri. in four p.m. over the Pacers. Indiana(IN) plays Wed. in four p.m. over the Houston Rockets.
The Heat would be locked into a matchup over Indiana(IN) with 1 extra Pacers win (or) a Philadelphia loss in either of their own rest 2 games, Wed. over the Toronto Raptors & Fri. over the Rockets.
The Heat went 3-One over the 76ers, & are 3-0 over the Pacers, with Fri.’s matchup rest.
The remainder of the playoff seeds within the East already were locked into place, with Milwaukee in No. 1, Toronto in No. 2, Boston in No. 3, Brooklyn in No. seven & Orlando in No. 8.
The best-of-seven 1st round of the playoffs opens Mon..