Last season, Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat made one of the most improbable playoff runs in recent memory that ended with a NBA Finals loss to eventual champions Denver Nuggets.
A year later, the Heat found themselves in the very same position they started that resilient run, with the hopes of finally finishing the story.
Butler and the no. 8 Miami’s quest for redemption will start in a colossal showdown with none other than Joel Embiid and the no. 7 Philadelphia 76ers in the seven-eight matchup in the other half of the East Play-in.
Jimmy. Embiid. Heat. 76ers.
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The Heat-76ers winner will face No. 2 seed New York Knicks in the opening round of the playoffs, and the loser will play host to the Hawks-Bulls winner for the chance to meet No. 1 overall seed Boston Celtics .
The Sixers go as Joel Embiid goes, while we all know about Playoff Jimmy.
Embiid and Butler are ex-Sixers teammates, sharing the same uniforms in 2019 before Philly traded the latter in the offseason.
Three years later, both superstars faced each other for the first time in the postseason, with the then top-seeded Heat eliminating the fourth-ranked Sixers in six games and Butler averaging 27.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in that series.
Miami was able to withstand being in the Play-In Tournament last year after beating the ninth-ranked Chicago Bulls to secure the East no. 8 seed.
The Heat then managed to knock off the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, beat the Knicks in the second round, and nearly wasted a 3-0 series lead before fending off the then top-seed Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, the Erik Spoelstra-led team simply was outmatched against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in the Finals, where they lost in five games.
The Sixers finished last season with a 54-28 season and good for the no. 3 spot.
They swept the no. 6 Brooklyn Nets in the opening round before falling to the Celtics in six games in the semifinals.
This season, Miami has been hampered with injuries all-year long, with Tyler Herro missing half a season due to a knee injury and Butler for over 20 games for various health and personal reasons.
The good news is, Herro just returned just two weeks before and is slowly finding his form.
Philadelphia--who will be competing for the first time in the Play-In tournament--had its fair share of injury woes that derailed a red-hot start.
The Sixers were in the third spot at 29-17 in January, when it all but went down after Embiid sustained a knee injury in their loss to the Golden State Warriors three months ago.
From that point, Embiid was out for nearly two months after undergoing a left knee surgery, effectively pushing him out of MVP contention. But he returned and led Philly to a strong 8-0 end to the regular season. He is averaging 30.4 points on 49.5% shooting, 9.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.2 blocks.
Both squads split their regular season series, winning two games each. The Sixers finished with a 25-16 record at home while the Heat are 24-17 on the road.
The eighth seed Miami Heat will take on the seventh seed Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, April 18 at 7 a.m. on NBA TV Philippines.
