Boston Celtics: Ranking the top 3 bubble seeding game opponents

3. Miami Heat

The team right on the C’s heels–the Miami Heat–will get a shot to make up some ground when one of the league’s most intense rivalries of the last decade reignites on August 4th. The Heat will be the team’s third opponent on the seeding slate.

Miami features two All-Stars in the lineup, with Jimmy Butler currently seen by most as a top 10 player in the NBA this season and Bam Adebayo the current favorite for the Most Improved Player award.

Around them are 3-point snipers Duncan Robinson (46.7 percent) and Meyers Leonard (43 percent) as well as the unheralded Kendrick Nunn in the starting lineup. Together, they possess the seventh-best record in the league, and they fortified their ranks with the acquisitions of Andre Iguodola and Jae Crowder at the trade deadline.

Miami was winners of five of their last seven games before the season was suspended in March, but it would be hard to justify using that as a predictor of how the team will pick up in the Disney World bubble.

Their talent makes them a viable threat though. With a mini-training camp having taken place in the bubble, perhaps they can iron out the chemistry chinks and make a run for Boston’s #3 seed.