After narrowly losing to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first Play-in Tournament match, the Miami Heat did not show any feаr or pаnic. They lost Jimmy Butler due to a knee ligament ιnjury but still maintain confidence and this was shown in the second Play-in match, which ended this morning on April 20.

Miami Heat did not have Jimmy Butler in the Play-in Tournament match against the Chicago Bulls, competing for the final ticket to the Playoffs in the East 

Tyler Herro scored 24 points and was only missing 1 assist for a triple-double (10 rebounds, 9 assists). Along with 20 points from rookie Jamie Jaquez Jr and 16 points from veteran bigman Kevin Love, Miami Heat won a strong 112-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls to win tickets to the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

The absence of Jimmy Butler seems to make it difficult for the Miami Heat to face a young, strong and energetic Chicago Bulls team. However, the opposite scenario happened when Heat was the team that flourished.

Midway through the first half, Tyler Herro led Miami’s team to create a 19-0 scoring streak to put the home team in the lead with a large margin. Although the Bulls then responded, the Heat spoke up again with another 14-0 run in the third quarter.

Tyler Herro played the role of Miami Heat’s No. 1 star on the day they didn’t have Jimmy Butler, nearly achieving a triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.

DeMar DeRozan did everything he could for the Chicago Bulls, leading the team with 22 points and 4 assists (8-16 FG, 3-6 3PT). Center Nikola Vucevic scored 16 points with 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. 

Unfortunately, these efforts were not good enough against the annoying defense that has become the Miami Heat’s trademark. A typical example is Coby White, a defender who just explоded with more than 40 points in the Play-in match 2 days ago but today was locked in, only scoring 13 points with 5-16 FG.

In addition, Chicago at one point only had 1-15 FGs, a series of “losing hands” that is hard to make up for in an important Playoffs match like this.

Video of Nikola Jovic’s block “given” to Coby White, a player who was taken care of very carefully in this Play-in match

Miami Heat’s opponent in round 1 of the 2024 NBA Playoffs will be the Boston Celtics, a nаme full of fate. Miami Heat and Boston Celtics have met in the last two Playoffs, meeting each other in the Eastern finals. 

The Boston Celtics won in 2022 to enter the NBA Finals to meet the Golden State Warriors. Then Miami Heat successfully took reve𝚗ge in 2023 after 7 matches, advancing to the NBA finals series against the Denver Nuggets. 

Now, the two teams will play again but right in round 1, promising an extremely tense and worth-watching series for fans.

The Boston Celtics will meet the Miami Heat in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the third consecutive year the two teams will meet in the postseason.After the series of matches on April 20, the NBA Play-in Tournament will officially end. In the East, the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat are the two teams that won the 2024 Playoffs ticket, putting an end to the season of the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls.

In the West, the Los Angeles Lakers have locked in the Playoffs and will face the defending champion Denver Nuggets in round 1. The remaining tickets will belong to the Sacramento Kings or New Orleans Pelicans.