Boston is a 14-point favorite in Sunday’s Game 1
After making NBA playoff history as a No. 8 seed last season, the Miami Heat again finds itself in a position to shock the basketball world this season.
But if last season’s Heat run to the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed was improbable, another run to the championship series as a No. 8 seed appears unfathomable at the moment when looking at the daunting challenge ahead and the personnel missing.
With Friday night’s impressive 112-91 win over the Chicago Bulls at Kaseya Center, the Heat clinched the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 playoff seed for the second straight season and a first-round series against the top-seeded Boston Celtics.
“It’s the old underdog story, David vs. Goliath,” Heat backup center Kevin Love said, with Game 1 of the best-of-7 series set for Sunday at TD Garden (1 p.m., ABC).
The Celtics closed the regular season with the NBA’s top record at 64-18 — seven games better than the NBA’s secondbest record. Led by a dynamic starting lineup of Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics posted the NBA’s top offensive rating and second-best defensive rating this regular season.
The Heat is coming off another frustrating regular season marred by injury issues, finishing with the NBA’s 21stranked offensive rating and fifth-ranked defensive rating. But Miami’s biggest problem is it’s expected to be without its best player Jimmy Butler for the entire first round and possibly beyond after he suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee during Wednesday’s play-in tournament loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Heat will also open the playoffs without starting guard Terry Rozier, who has already missed six straight games with a neck injury, and reserve guard Josh Richardson, who is