The Miami Heat play-in tournament preview is are they ready to play Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey?Philadelphia played an easy schedule after beating Miami in April to get the 7 seed. Miami won their last two games of the season against Toronto. Kevin Love did leave the game yesterday with an upper arm contusion, so that isn’t good. Miami can compete against Philly but the stakes are high. As per this article here in The Athletic, Jimmy Butler says that “it’ll (their playoff run) will be a show.”
Play-In preview #3 — Next man up or every man up.
Coach Spolestra holds the “intangibles” edge over Nick Nurse in this matchup. He will have something ready for the Philly offense and defense on Wednesday. The problem is that the Heat have had constant lineup changes all season. Duncan Robinson and Terry Rozier are injured and have no timetable for return. Look at this article here in the Sun Sentinel as to the injury situation.
Thomas Bryant has had nice games filling in for Kevin Love but will have a load to deal with helping guard Embiid. Heat beat writer Ira Winderman talks about how important Love is to the Heat offense in his article here. Love is a “sparkplug” player. When he comes in the game, he gets offensive rebounds and facilitates the offense.
Play-In preview #2 — Tyler Herro and his durability.
Tyler Herro can score. Period, full stop. The important part now heading into Wednesday is can he stay healthy? As a fan, I do appreciate that he “is trying” to be a better defender and is sacrificing his body. Close to the All-Star break, he was asked to be more of a “catch and shoot” player but then he got injured again. Will the Heat have him parked at the three-point line for the play-in games? This article here from allucanheat.com ask and answers three questions before the first play-in game.
Play-In preview #1 — What gives with Butler and Adebayo?
Against Dallas, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic outplayed Jimmy Butler and Bam. Neither player really tried to take over the game and it showed in their shot attempts. The overgeneralization by many that Jimmy Butler is just waiting for the playoffs to excel will be tested. Jimmy Butler is human so he could just be dealing with more problems than basketball. This column here from the Philadelphia Inquirer shows how much Jimmy Butler weighs on the Sixers.
Miami lost to the Sixers in the fourth quarter the last game they played. Look at my article here on our site about the game. Embiid was good in the first half but not the second. Kyle Lowry played well again and could be a “Heat killer” in this fifth game in the season series. The Heat are better on the road than at home, so they will be ready to play.
One Response