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Underdog #8 Miami Heat Upset #1 Milwaukee Bucks - Newstbt.com

Tiffany Burroughs
Updated: 23 June 2023
4 min to read

In an unexpected result, the eighth seed Miami Heat have managed to topple the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the opening round of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs.
Jimmy Butler
However, Miami Heat Forward Jimmy Butler defied the odds in Game 5 as he took a game-tying shot at the end of regulation at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, ultimately seeing the Heat to victory and into the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Despite missing two key players, being Tyler Herro who fractured his right hand while diving for a loose ball in Game 1 and Victor Oladipo who sustained a postseason-ending knee injury in Game 3, the Heat still managed to rise to the challenge. Butler himself stated, “We just play hard. We know what we’re capable of. We don’t listen to the outside noise, and we will not listen to any outside noise.” Surprising those who put money on the Bucks at -1200 odds, the Heat managed to silence the doubters and come out on top in only five games of the opening-round series.

The Bucks, with the biggest favoritism of any first round series in the playoffs, were given odds of -2.5 games. This suggested their chances of a five game sweep of the Heat, who had just made it to the first round from the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament as the +750 underdog, were high. However, spurred on by the brilliance of Jimmy Butler, the Heat managed to shock the Bucks and fight their way back through comebacks time and time again.

Jimmy Buckets Led Comebacks

After the Miami Heat fell behind by double digits in the fourth quarter in each of their past two games, Jimmy Butler spearheaded subsequent comebacks with incredible performances; he set a franchise record with 56 points in the Game 5 victory and followed this up with a staggering 42 points in the overtime win of Game 6. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had planned to use Butler as a decoy in the last regulation play of Game 5, but the all-star’s determination convinced the head coach to let him have the ball. Butler looked Spoelstra dead in the eye and said, “No. Let me be that guy.” With 0.5 seconds on the clock, Butler received a near-perfect pass from Gabe Vincent and hoisted a game-tying shot to send the game into overtime. After the Bucks went cold late in the 4th quarter, the Heat were able to erase a 16-point deficit to force overtime.

After a heartbreaking elimination during the last postseason due to a knee injury to forward Khris Middleton — which had fans believing a healthy Bucks team could have successfully defended their NBA title and won back-to-back championships — the Bucks optimistically headed into the 2021 postseason as heavy favorites (+265) to win the championship this season. However, tragedy struck early with Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo injuring his back in Game 1 and missing the next two games. Despite eventually returning in Game 4 and scoring 38 points and 20 rebounds in the Game 5 loss, the Bucks were taken down by the Heat, making them the sixth team to upset a #1 seed this year.

Heat Sixth Team to Upset #1 Seed

In an unprecedented move, the Heat became only the sixth #8 seed to beat a #1 seed in the playoffs – a feat that made NBA history. Remarkably, the Heat pulled off their upset in only five games, despite seven-game series being the norm since 2003. This was the first time in a quarter-century that the feat had been accomplished, as the two previous #8 seed victories also occurred during the era when the opening round of the NBA Playoffs was only a best-of-five series – namely in 1994 when the Denver Nuggets defeated Seattle SuperSonics and in 1999 when the New York Knicks knocked off the Miami Heat. The Sonics had led the 1993-94 season with 63 wins, while the Heat had triumphed in 1998-99 following a lockout-shortened season, making the Heat’s upset one of the most extraordinary in NBA history.
One year after their playoff brawl, the #8 Miami Heat defeated the #1 New York Knicks in five games in the opening round of the 1999 postseason.

In 1999, a one-year flashback to the 1998 season occurred when the #8 Miami Heat, fresh off a postseason brawl with the #1 New York Knicks, squared off against them in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat unexpectedly prevailed, beating the Knicks in five games. Flash forward to 2007, when the #8 Golden State Warriors overturned the #1 Dallas Mavericks’ opportunity for back-to-back titles in six games. Another upset happened in 2011 when the #8 Memphis Grizzlies, led by Zach Randolph, stunned the #1 San Antonio Spurs in six games. Then in 2012, the #8 Philadelphia 76ers shocked the #1 Chicago Bulls with Derrick Rose’s injury in the very first game of the series. Despite the loss of their MVP, the Bulls were still defeated in six games.

1990s Flashback: Heat and Knicks

The #5 New York Knicks will challenge the #8 Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals starting this weekend, and this matchup will revive the contentious rivalry that formed in the mid-1990s when head coach Pat Riley moved from New York to join the Heat roster. The Knicks only needed five games to take down the #4 Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round, progressing beyond an opponent in playoffs for the first time since 2013. Leading up to the conference semifinals, the Knicks are the preferred victors (-140) of the series while the Heat have been bracketed as the underdogs (+120) to win and advance to the conference finals. For Game 1 at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks have been identified as the -4.5 favorites. At the conclusion of the regular season in April, the Heat had +25000 odds and the Knicks had +12000 odds of winning the 2022-23 NBA championship according to DraftKings.

FiveThirtyEight has updated its playoff predictions and the current odds for the Knicks to win the championship are +2000. The Heat have improved to +3500 and have a 12% chance to reach the 2023 NBA Finals with a 5% chance of winning the title. The Knicks with an 11% chance to take the Eastern Conference and 4% likelihood of emerging victorious as the champion.

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Updated: 23 June 2023
4 min to read

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