Nba the playoff lineup: Miami and Minnesota also enter the play-in

The final night of the play-in honors the teams that had the best regular season record. Miami wins the home match against the dreaded Chicago Bulls with suffering and determination, against which it had never won this year, while Minnesota sweeps away Oklahoma City in the din of the Target Center and hits the playoffs for the second year in a row. Waiting for the Heat and Timberwolves are the number 1 seeds of the two conferences: the Milwaukee Bucks and the Denver Nuggets. This is the complete picture of the playoffs: Milwaukee-Miami; Cleveland-New York; Philadelphia-Brooklyn; Boston-Atlanta; Denver-Oklahoma City; Phoenix-LA Clippers; Sacramento-Golden State; Memphis-LA Lakers.

The Miami Heat earn the eighth position in the east and access to the playoffs by overcoming the bete noire Chicago (3-0 in regular season clashes) and going beyond the technical and structural limits that have made their whole season. The difficulties that emerged in the match against Atlanta, which cost coach Erik Spoelstra’s men the matchup against Boston, had created an abyss of insecurity within the Heat environment, revealing the concrete specter of elimination on the horizon. Now, however, the Milwaukee Bucks will cross the path of Miami, who arrives in the first round with more doubts than certainties, true, but with the exhilarating thrill of having conquered all the stakes by winning a straight match. It was the competition of Jimmy Butler and Max Strus, both absolute offensive protagonists with 31 points each, decisive from start to finish. Butler found his approach shot back, little-to-no work against Atlanta, and fired up at will through tough, conscious playmaking. Man to race in or out if there is one in this league. Strus shot a flaming 7/12 from three, solving most of the problems from the arc of Miami. Close to the triple double Tyler Herro (12 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists), while Bam Adebayo, in an evening of 8 points and 1/9 shooting, finished with 17 rebounds and a +16 plus / minus. Chicago went down several times during the game, always holding on to the game and trying with conviction even to draw in the 4th period. He played with personality and organization in an enemy building and basically has little to reproach himself in terms of attitude and idea of ​​basketball. This simply wasn’t the night of the Bulls.

The match

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The Heat went up +14 in the 1st quarter and found the double-digit lead also in the 3rd period, effectively leading the game in terms of pace and technical proposition. Chicago, however, had the merit of never being swept away and so, when Miami understandably lost their edge in attack, they tried to extend their hands on the match by finding the +6 with 7′ from the end. In the last 4′, however, the Heat produced a devastating 15-1 run that erased any doubts about the outcome of the match. The knockout was signed by Strus, with a triple assisted by Butler 1:14 from the siren.

You love meButler 31 (11/24, 0/2 from three, 9/10 tl), Strus 31, Herro 12. Rebounds: Adebayo 17. Assists: Herro 7

ChicagoDeRozan 26 (9/19, 0/2 from three, 8/9 tl), Caruso 16, LaVine 15. Rebounds: Vucevic 9. Assists: DeRozan 9

Minnesota is reborn from the ashes of Los Angeles and finds itself in the decisive moment of the season. The return of Rudy Gobert (21 points and 10 rebounds) after the suspension match for the cowardly punch given to his teammate Kyle Anderson, the dominance of Karl-Anthony Towns (28 points and 11 rebounds) and the brutal competitive spirit of Anthony Edwards ( 19 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals). The Wolves did not miss anything against the Oklahoma City Thunder, physically crushed by the excessive power of KAT and his teammates, asphalted in the points scored in the area (58-30) and perhaps “betrayed” by the backcourt duo formed by Josh Giddey (6 points, 2 /13 shooting) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (22 points, 5/19 shooting), this time decidedly more human in the offensive performance compared to the sensational game in New Orleans and, in general, a large part of his excellent regular season. Stronger, mentally and athletically, more talented and better prepared for games of this type: the Timberwolves legitimized their qualification for the postseason with a very solid performance, lucid in reading the crucial moments of the match and perfectly aware of their strengths compared to the opponent. Towns and Gobert have shifted the balance and made Minnesota’s attack, due to spacing, possible mismatches and dominance in the paint, a lethal weapon impossible to contain for Oklahoma City. The Thunder can still come out of this play-in with their heads held high and maintain great confidence looking to the future. However, they weren’t structured to handle a first-round playoff match against Denver with dignity. This elimination is only the starting point of a path that already seems extremely bright.

The match

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Minnesota pushed with more decision starting from the end of the 2nd quarter, the first embryonic split moment of the game. Chris Finch’s team then transformed further, supported by the torrid passion of the Target Center, between the end of the 3rd period and the beginning of the 4th, when they found a monstrous offensive continuity especially with Towns, Gobert and Edwards and dragged the Thunder into oblivion. The +29 gained in the last quarter certified a success that has never seemed conceptually in question, despite the apparent initial balance. He won the best team. Today, tomorrow who knows.

MinnesotaTowns 28 (11/16, 1/4 from three, 5/5 dl), Gobert 21, Edwards 19. Rebounds: Towns 11. Assists: Edwards 6

Oklahoma CityGilgeous-Alexander 22 (5/19, 0/1 from three, 12/12 lt), Dort 17, Jal. Williams 17. Rebounds: Dort 8. Assists: Jal. Williams 6