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No team in the NBA playoffs right now is hotter than the eighth-seeded Miami Heat, led by arguably the MVP of the postseason thus far in veteran forward Jimmy Butler.
Much like the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference, the Heat had to start their postseason quest in the Play-in Tournament, and things didn’t start out well.
The Heat lost to the Atlanta Hawks, which slotted Miami into the eighth seed setting up a first-round series with the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
Obviously, this wasn’t an ideal situation for the storied NBA franchise, but Butler and company put on a show beating arguably the best team in the league in five games to advance to the second round against the New York Knicks.
Miami got off to a hot start against New York with a win in Game 1, which puts the Heat in the history books, according to ESPN.
The Heat become the first 8-seed in NBA history to win five of their first six postseason games pic.twitter.com/CYg4LONaoR
— ESPN (@espn) April 30, 2023
Even though the Heat are the lowest seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and will be for the duration of the postseason, it hasn’t stopped Erik Spoelstra’s squad from playing better than any team in the playoffs up to this point.
Unfortunately, Butler suffered an apparent ankle injury in Game 1 against the Knicks, which may start to slow down this red-hot squad, but if the first round is any indication, the Heat and their star forward can’t be underestimated from here on out.
It’ll be interesting to see if Butler’s ankle injury impacts this team going forward or if it’ll be more of the same in Game 2 and beyond.
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