South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Games take on bigger meaning
As we brace for an eightway tie for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference (or something like that), the importance of the NBA’s release of the second half of the 2020-21 schedule looms even more important for teams such as the Miami Heat.
Going into the weekend, eight teams stood within three games of fourth place in the East, the final spot in the conference for homecourt advantage in the first round.
As the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks have somewhat distanced themselves, for everyone else in East contention it means games that essentially will count double going forward, with head-tohead record the initial playoff tiebreaker.
For the Heat, that makes the next two games, a baseball-type series against the Atlanta Hawks at AmericanAirlines Arena on Sunday and Tuesday, are particularly significant, with the teams to meet only three times this season (also on April 23 in Atlanta).
In fact, with the Heat to play nine sets of backto-back games over the second half of their schedule (compared to four over the first half ), priority arguably should come against East opponents in direct competition for playoff seeding.
For example, even with the Heat’s March 25 home game against the Portland Trail Blazers standing as one of only four Heat nationally televised games over the second half of the season, the game the following night, on the road against the Charlotte Hornets, stands as far more significant, based on tiebreaker implications.
And remember, this season the race for at least No. 6 is particularly weighty, with Nos. 7-10 to participate in a play-in round for the conference’s final two seeds, while the other seeds have the benefit of at least five days off before their start of the postseason.
So where do the Heat stand in the tiebreaker race against teams currently in direct competition for playoff seeding? Here’s where (assuming no cancellations due to the pandemic):
The Heat and Pacers have yet to open their three-game season series, one that will be contested over a 12-day span in March.
The teams meet March 19 and March 21 at AmericanAirlines Arena in a two-game baseball-type series, and then March 31 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
With Wednesday’s 116-108 victory over the visiting Raptors, the Heat won the season series 2-1.
The Heat previously split a baseball-type series against Toronto on Jan. 20 and Jan. 22 in Tampa, where the Raptors are playing this season due to Canadian pandemic border restrictions.
The Heat clinched the threegame season series with consecutive victories over the Knicks on Feb. 7 at Madison Square Garden and Feb. 9 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The teams have yet to open their threegame season series, with a March 12 game at the United Center, and April 24 and April 26 games at AmericanAirlines Arena.
In 2016-17, the Bulls (with Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler) took the final Eastern Conference playoff berth from the Heat by virtue of a 2-1 head-to-head tiebreaker, after both teams closed
41-41.
This might stand as the most significant tiebreaker for the Heat. The Hornets won the first game of the threegame season series 129-121 in overtime on Feb. 1 at AmericanAirlines Arena, with meetings remaining March 26 and May 2 in Charlotte.
The Celtics hold a 1-0 lead in a season series that already could have been decided had the teams’ Jan. 10 meeting in Boston not been postponed due to pandemic protocols.
That canceled game has been rescheduled as part of a baseball-type series on May 9 and May 11 at TD Garden.
The three-game season series opens Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The three-game season series is complete, won 2-1 by the Heat.
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NEW REALITY:
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HARSH REALITY: Andre Iguodala
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