3 realistic goals for Miami Heat in 2021 NBA Playoffs
By Ian Levy
2. Win at least 1 playoff series
A Cinderella run starts by winning in the first round. If the Heat can focus on that, take things one game and one series at a time, who knows what can happen? Miami stayed above the play-in tournament and their reward was a first-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks. On paper, the Bucks should be heavy favorites, but they were also heavy favorites last year when the Heat needed just five games to knock them out of the playoffs.
These are not the same Bucks as last year, with more shooting and the addition of Jrue Holiday. But the Heat still took one of their three regular-season matchups with them, even though Jimmy Butler missed all three games. Bam Adebayo is still as good a defender as there is for Giannis and the Heat’s outside shooters gave Milwaukee plenty of problems in the regular season. This is a winnable series for the Heat, even if they start as underdogs.