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Going into last season’s NBA playoffs, plenty of people picked the Milwaukee Bucks to reach the NBA Finals, but instead the Bucks fell hard to the Miami Heat in the first round of the postseason.
Over the summer, future Hall of Fame guard Damian Lillard demanded a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers and specifically asked to be sent to the Heat, but he instead headed to the Bucks.
One would think the Bucks would scare opposing teams more than any other team in the Eastern Conference, aside from possibly the Boston Celtics, but Bill Simmons, per The Ringer, says the Heat actually scare him more than the Bucks.
Simmons pointed out that while Miami has a worse record than Milwaukee right now, Miami has played a lot of road games, while rookie forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been impressive.
“[The Bucks] are not the team I fear in the East. The team I fear in the East is Miami.”@BillSimmons explains why he thinks the Heat are a bigger threat than Milwaukee: pic.twitter.com/CxwwmqtE4M
— The Ringer (@ringer) December 1, 2023
Meanwhile, as Simmons pointed out, the Bucks have had some kinks to work out, as they’re integrating Lillard into the remaining core of the 2021 championship team while they also have a new head coach in Adrian Griffin.
The Bucks have some defensive issues, but offensively, they seem to be hitting their stride, and despite a difficult overtime loss to the dismal Chicago Bulls on Thursday, they have won eight of their last 10 games.
But Miami always seems to find ways to win a big game they need to win, as long as they’re healthy.
They haven’t been healthy lately — key guard Tyler Herro, one of their biggest offensive threats, is out with an ankle injury — but they recently went on a seven-game winning streak while also winning nine out of 10 games.
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