Milwaukee Bucks: Ranking 3 first round matchups two weeks away from playoffs
With two weeks remaining until the start of the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks are making their final push going into the final week of the regular season.
Having won five straight games following their 141-133 victory over the Houston Rockets Friday night, the Bucks stand second in the East as they hold the tiebreaker over the Brooklyn Nets, thanks to their recent pair of victories over the East rival.
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With five games remaining in the regular season, the biggest of which will come against the Miami Heat, the Bucks will look to hold on to that spot. Whether they will do just that remains to be seen as does who they will face in the first round.
The uncertainty surrounding the playoff picture in the East, save for the first seed, will set up quite the last week of the regular season.
So without further ado, let’s rank the three possible first round matchups the Bucks could see going into the playoffs in terms of the desirability to the Bucks.
Facing the Miami Heat would force the Milwaukee Bucks to face their playoff demons
Currently the sixth seed in the East at 36-31 following their win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night, the Bucks will meet their playoff demons head-on if they were to meet up against the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.
After all, it was the Heat that completely dismantled the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last year en route to their unlikely appearance in the NBA Finals. Now Miami is clearly not the same team they were while in the bubble and the 2020-21 season has been trying on several fronts for the reigning Eastern Conference champions.
The Heat have battled through injury, COVID-19-related absences for some of their biggest stars, including Jimmy Butler, and the regression of their more promising prospects. As they have churned through their roster in order to tinker with their middling performance this season, they’ve yet to reap the rewards of acquiring Victor Oladipo, who is currently sidelined with a knee injury, at this year’s trade deadline.
Much like the Bucks, where the Heat will finish is one of the many big questions that have yet to be resolved at this point and their upcoming back-to-back series with the seventh-seeded Boston Celtics will help determine that. Per Basketball-Reference, the Heat have a 25.8 percent chance to finish sixth in the East.
Of course, the Bucks have one last meeting with the Heat over the final week of the season and that could set the stage for a preview of what’s to come if both sides end up facing against one another.