The Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks will meet in the playoffs for the second straight season. This time around, the Bucks are the third seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Heat are the sixth seed. Series odds via PointsBet.
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#6 Miami Heat (+225) vs. #3 Milwaukee Bucks (-275)
Last season when these two teams met in the bubble in Orlando, the top-seeded Bucks were no match for the fifth-seeded Miami Heat. It will be interesting to see how this series will play out this year. If the Bucks suffer an early exit this season, you better believe there will be wholesale changes in Milwaukee this offseason.
These teams met three times during the regular season. The Bucks won the season series 2-1, but Miami’s best player in Jimmy Butler missed all three matchups. Butler will be healthy for the playoff series, and Milwaukee will have all of their key pieces ready to go for the series start, too.
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Miami did not have the best regular season, as it dealt with injuries for the majority of the year. Many expected them to show rust to start the season after playing so deep into the fall last season, and Butler only played in 52 of Miami’s 72 games. The Heat were 33-19 SU in games Butler played in this season.
Once again the Bucks were one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference throughout the regular season. Milwaukee went 46-26 SU and finished the season as the East’s third seed. Even though the Bucks put up a very impressive record they were not as good as they have been. The Bucks struggled with the better teams in the league this season, while they beat up on the subpar teams. In games this season vs. teams that have qualified for the playoffs, Milwaukee was 14-18 ATS (43%), while going 15-17 SU vs. this season’s playoff teams.
PointsBet is reporting that 61% of the series winner wagers are backing the Miami Heat. Bettors really like the Heat to upset the Bucks and I agree.
Edge: Miami Heat +275
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