Bucks Zone

The Milwaukee Bucks’ potential opponent in 1st round of the Playoffs is down to the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls

Milwaukee split its regular-season series with Miami and Chicago.

Matthew Dugandzic

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It’s either Miami or Chicago for the Milwaukee Bucks in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs. The Bulls got away with a huge upset on Wednesday night when they rallied from 19 points down to defeat the Toronto Raptors, 109-105.

This eliminated Toronto from the playoff race, while the Bulls earned the right to battle the Miami Heat for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Heat will have their second crack at a playoff berth after they fell to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night. The winner in the Chicago-Miami duel will then face Milwaukee in a best-of-seven series. Milwaukee split its regular season series with Chicago and Miami.

Perks of being the top seed

While the bottom teams are fighting to stay alive, the Bucks have the luxury of taking a short break after ending the regular season as the overall top seed.

The Bucks finished the season with a 58-24 record, a feat that gave them home-court advantage throughout the Playoffs.

Other matchups are already set

The No. 2 seed Boston Celtics will be taking on the Atlanta Hawks, while the third-seeded Philadelphia Sixers will be battling the sixth-seeded Brooklyn Nets.

The fourth-ranked Cleveland Cavaliers will square off with the fifth-seeded New York Knicks.

The Playoffs will begin on April 15 with the higher seeds enjoying home-court advantage in a 2-2-1-1-1 format.

Interestingly, the first two play-in games in the East saw the home teams lose with Miami falling to Atlanta and Toronto bowing to Chicago.

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Matthew Dugandzic
MATTHEW DUGANDZIC

Matthew finished his bachelor's degree in Economics (Management) at the University of Split and got his master's degree in the same field at the University of Zadar. Whether it is playing the game as an undersized 6'3'' power forward or simply watching it, Matthew can't get enough of it. After all, he has been an avid NBA fan since the 2000s. But don't get him wrong, as Matthew still loves the old-school NBA and is a true student of the game. From on-court moments to off-court stuff, whether it's about the stars of modern-day basketball or legends of the game, Matthew covers every category of the NBA world and basketball in general, as long as it makes for an engaging and exciting story.