ESPN Analyst Suggests Playoff Format Change That Could Impact Teams Like 2023 Miami Heat

Shandel Richardson | Sep 12, 2024

Apr 17, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) reacts after a collision during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers in a play-in game of the 2024 NBA playoffs at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Miami Heat's playoff run in 2023 was among the most impressive in sports history.

The No. 8 seed Heat made it to the NBA Finals, falling to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. The only team to accomplish the feat was the New York Knicks in 1999.

If an ESPN analyst got his way, teams like the Heat might have a more difficult time completing another run. NBA insider Zach Lowe suggested the league consider allowing the No. 1 seed team to choose its opponent after the Play-In Tournament is decided.

"It just makes too much sense in the Play-In era where you can have a team that has a randomly bad season lose in the first Play-In game and end up in the eighth seed," Lowe said Thursday on ESPN's NBA Today. "And you don't want to play them. Give me the bulletin board material of the No. 1 seed picking their first-round opponent

In 2023, the Heat were the No. 8 seed a year after they lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. The Heat sputtered through that season because of injuries and chemistry issues before getting it together in time for the postseason.

Surely, the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks may have benefitted from picking to play the Atlanta Hawks instead of being eliminated by the Heat in the first round.

That led NBA Today host Malika Andrews to respond to Lowe with this, "The Miami Heat vehemently disagree with you on that."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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