Getty Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler drives past Jrue Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Miami Heat will open up their first-round playoff series against the No. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday afternoon. Despite entering the postseason as a lower seed, the Heat are still a team that players around the league respect.
Bucks guard Jrue Holiday discussed his mindset, as well as that of his teammates, heading into their series against Miami.
“I feel like one through eight there’s always a chance,” Holiday said via Bally Sports Wisconsin. “It doesn’t matter that we got the one seed. Miami’s a good team. They’re tough. We know how they play. They play hard, they’re physical, they’re never gonna give up. So, I think at any point in any series, East or West, anything can happen. So we gotta be the one’s who are the hungrier team, the more competitive team.”
“It doesn’t matter that we got the one seed. Miami’s a good team. They’re tough.”
Jrue Holiday and the #Bucks are focused on Miami. #FearTheDeer
The opening series will mark the third time in four seasons that that two franchises meet in the playoffs. Each team holds a series with the Heat eliminating the Bucks in 2020, and Milwaukee getting them back a year later.
Khris Middleton Discusses Bucks Matchup with Heat
Holiday’s teammate Khris Middleton echoed a similar message when he was asked about squaring off against the Heat in the first round.
“Their style of play is that you know they’re physical,” he said in the same clip.” They’re going to play a grind it out style of basketball. Then you know if it’s a close game you can expect Jimmy [Butler], Bam [Adebayo], Tyler Herro all of those guys to put their foot down and be physical, like I said. But also they have another notch that they go to at the end of games, like we saw with Chicago [Bulls] the other night. They’re a tough team, they’ve always been down to pass and I don’t think that’s going to change.”
Middleton then went a bit deeper, citing Miami’s history as reason for respecting them heading into the playoffs.
“Like I said they’re a tough team. I don’t think at this point in the season you can look at one seeds, eight seeds, ten seeds, whoever made it in, everybody’s in the playoffs for a reason right now because they’re a talented group. They have special players, they’re a special team. So credit their history. We know what they’re about. Even though they’re in the Play-In Game we still got the ultimate respect for them, that they’re a contender, they are a playoff team.”
Jimmy Butler Cites Bam Adebayo as Reason Heat Can Win vs. Bucks
After beating the Bulls in a decisive Play-In game on Friday, Jimmy Butler credited his All-Star teammate Bam Adebayo for his gritty performance. Butler cited Adebayo’s hard work on the glass and on the defensive end as reasoning that the Heat can win against the Bucks.
“The reason I really loved Bam tonight is because even though you don’t make shots you can affect the game in so many ways,” he said via Brendan Tobin. “And that right there is the definition of a star player, a superstar, All-Star, whatever you want to put on to it. But, 17 rebounds, he had one block, but it was the best defensive play of the entire game. When you lock in on the defensive end like that, that’s the part that gets everybody excited, gets everybody doing the right thing. I hope he makes every shot on Sunday but if he doesn’t and he has another game like this, it’s going to be the reason that we win.”
Jimmy Butler: I love Bam tonight is because even though you don’t make shots you can affect the game in so many ways. That is the definition of a star player…I hope he makes every shot on Sunday but if he doesn’t and he has another game like this, it’ll be the reason we win
Miami’s star center shot just 1-of-9 from the field for nine points. However, like 33-year-old pointed out, Adebayo’s effort was a game-changer for Miami. He secured a game-high 17 rebounds, outworking the Bulls on the glass.