The playoffs are officially here! With the Play-In Tournament finished, I just wanted to note an interesting nugget for each team along with a quick prediction for the first round series. (Net ratings and offensive and defensive rankings are from NBA.com while player splits are from Basketball-Reference.com)
#1 Bucks (58-24, +3.4, #15 O, #4 D) vs. #8 Heat (44-38, -0.5, #25 O, #9 D): Bucks in 5
Milwaukee had an interesting season with a 9-0 start followed by a 20-17 stretch, and then they reeled off a 16 game winning streak once Khris Middleton made his return from injury, with him playing in 13 of those contests. They finished 13-7 to close the season with some strategic resting along the way, but overall they were 25-8 when Middleton played.
Max Strus getting Miami off to a great start with four straight made 3's for their first 12 points in yesterday's do-or-die game continued the heater he's been on. Over the final 21 games of the regular season, Strus shot 40.7% 3's to average 9.5 points in 24 minutes after only shooting 33.5% his first 59 games. He moved into the starting lineup the last five of those games, but that puts even more pressure on Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo defensively as the starting front court pairing going against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez.
4 Max Strus threes for all of Miami’s points so far reminded me of this classic joke https://t.co/wfe2OwG6xZ
— Dave Giovanazzi (@SF_DavidGio) April 14, 2023
