The No. 8 Miami Heat will take on the No. 9 Chicago Bulls in the Play-In Tournament. The winner of this game will be the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and face the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs. With that in mind, keep reading for our preview of the game, which will be played at the Kaseya Center at 7:00 pm ET on Friday, April 19th.
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How To Watch Bulls vs. Hawks
Where: Kaseya Center in Miami, FL
When: 7:00 pm ET on Friday, April 19th
Channel: ESPN
Heat vs. Bulls prediction
The Miami Heat officially ruled out both Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier for the final play-in against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday afternoon. In fact, the team announced that Butler would miss several weeks with an MCL sprain, likely ending any hopes of another miraculous run to the NBA Finals. However, the Heat can still make the postseason with a win on Friday night, and that will be the goal when they face the Bulls.
Terry Rozier was also ruled out for this contest, which means the offensive load will rest on the shoulders of Tyler Herro. Miami averaged just 110.8 points per 100 possessions without Butler on the floor this season. Without both him and Rozier, the Heat really lack shot-creators in the backcourt. In a small sample size, Miami averaged 120.3 points per 100 possessions when Herro was at point guard in the regular season without Butler and Rozier. Those lineups will need to recreate that magic again against Chicago.
The Bulls are not in perfect health either. Alex Caruso suffered a sprained ankle in the win over the Hawks on Wednesday night. There is some hope that he will be available on Friday, but he is a game-time decision. If Caruso cannot play that leaves Chicago severely limited at the point of attack defensively.
Caruso’s status is obviously important, but it is hard to look past the Heat here. Erik Spoelstra is 108-79-1 ATS in his career in the postseason. Bettors saw how effective his gameplans could be on Wednesday night when Miami held Philadelphia to 1.129 points per possession and forced turnovers on 17.2% of their offensive possessions. That was all with Butler playing ineffectively on one knee.
Chicago deserves credit for easily dispatching Atlanta, but the Hawks ended the season as the worst cover team in the league (29-54 ATS). It will be another animal facing the Heat in South Beach in an elimination game. It might be hard to trust them considering the injuries, but Miami is just the more reliable team.
Play: Heat (-1.5)
