The Miami Heat clinched the No. 1 seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs from the comfort of their couches Thursday night.
Although idle, the 52-28 Heat were assured of the top seed in the East by virtue of the Milwaukee Bucks defeating the visiting Boston Celtics, and the visiting Philadelphia 76ers losing to the Toronto Raptors.
As the result of those results, only Milwaukee can match the Heat’s 52 victories before the regular season ends Sunday. However, with the Heat and Bucks having split their four-game season series (the first playoff tiebreaker) and potentially to stand tied in conference record (the second tiebreaker), the Heat are assured of a better record against East teams in the playoff pool (the next tiebreaker).
The NBA confirmed that the No. 1 seeds in each conference will open their postseason on Sunday, April 17, with the Phoenix Suns the top seed in the Western Conference. The NBA playoffs open April 16.
A factor of the Heat’s scheduling is that the No. 8 playoff seeds, who will face the No. 1 seeds in the best-of-seven opening round, will not be determined until play-in round is completed on April 15.
Among the remaining potential playoff opponents for the Heat are the four teams that will compete in the Eastern Conference play-in round: the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers. The play-in seeding of those teams likely will not be determined until Sunday.
The Heat will host the first two games of their opening-round series, with the second home date at FTX Arena yet to be announced. Each best-of-seven round of the playoffs will be contested on a 2-2-1-1-1 basis.
As a No. 1 seed, the Heat will have the home-court advantage in each of their rounds in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Heat have remaining regular season games on Friday night against the Hawks at FTX Arena and on Sunday night against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center.
Assistant coach Chris Quinn, who has been guiding the Heat since Erik Spoelstra entered NBA health-and-safety protocols on Sunday, said ahead of Thursday’s games that those results likely would impact the Heat’s approach in their remaining two games.
“We’ll obviously re-evaluate every day to see where we stand and what’s needed,” Quinn said. “But most importantly, today, tomorrow and going forward, we’re trying to build habits to get ready for the playoffs and to get ready to compete for a championship. That will be our mindset going forward.”
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