The NBA Playoffs are a time for high drama, big stakes, championship contention and great basketball.
Though, the first round of the NBA Playoffs typically lends itself to lopsided matchups. That is whats happening with the No. 1 seeds in each conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder have demolished the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference’s No. 1 vs. No. 8 seed battle.
In the Eastern Conference, it has been much of the same, the Cleveland Cavaliers have overmatched the Miami Heat, who barely sneaked into the NBA Playoff picture via a pair of NBA Play-In Tournament wins.
In this series, while the Heat have no shot to pull off another no. 8 seed upset of the top dogs, Miami is still gaining valuable experience.
Sure, it came at the cost of a middling first round pick in a loaded 2025 NBA Draft class, but the reward can still be there.
The Heat have a coule of rookies in Kel’el Ware and Pelle Larsson getting NBA Playoff minutes for the club. This is valuable time on the hardwood for a pair of first year players get tough matchups with the Cavs loaded roster with tough tests.
Ware and Larsson have gotten some run with Larsson getting 12 total minutes in the first two games but Ware notching 39 minutes in the opening two games of this series.
In Game 3, the Heat were blown out in South Beach despite the Cavs not having Darius Garland and a substandard night from Donovan Mitchell.
Larsson played over 12 minutes in Game 3, by far his most of the series. These two youngsters could parlay their rookie seasons into long-tern places into Miami’s rotation.
