Four burning NBA questions with playoffs one month away: Can the Heat make a Finals run?

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The long grind of the regular season is coming to an end, with another, more urgent, grind on the horizon. Here are a few burning questions with the NBA a month away from the start of the playoffs.

The officiating has gotten lighter, fouls are down and scores are off its blistering pace. Does this favor some teams more than others?

For sure it does. The New York Knicks, for one. They bludgeon teams regardless of the rules. But an intriguing squad to monitor is the Miami Heat. They already do a lot of defending without fouling, and because they’re not the biggest team, they’re used to playing with their hands more, doing a little more bumping on the cutters and underneath the basket. And they seem to like it — as they should.

“The last couple games, they’re really letting us play,” Heat center Bam Adebayo told Yahoo Sports recently. “It’s just prepping everybody for the playoffs. All these ticky-tack fouls is not gonna fly. It’s back to physical basketball. And I respect it.

“You gotta guard your yard, offensive guys gotta really score, they can’t look for a bailout when they get stuck. You have to really hoop.”

Bam Adebayo and the Heat are good with the return of physical basketball, of course. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)

Adebayo is one of the league’s best all-around centers while also being undersized. He’s often giving up a couple inches (listed at 6-foot-9) and sometimes 20-plus pounds. He depends on his strength, positioning and a little physicality, with the benefit of the doubt being earned due to his reputation.

Adebayo’s foul rate (2.4 per game) is already at its lowest since 2020-21 and, in March, Miami has averaged 15.7 fouls per game, by far the lowest number since Jimmy Butler arrived via free agency in 2019.

Miami is certainly more opportunistic than explosive on offense, and although Butler has manufactured great games from the foul line, it doesn’t seem like he or his teammates will have a difficult time adjusting to the new wave.

“Yeah. We’re good with it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told Yahoo Sports. “As long as we know how it’s going to be. We…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/four-burning-nba-questions-with-playoffs-one-month-away-can-the-heat-make-a-finals-run-162029852.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-03-21 16:20:29

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