Miami vs. tired Hawks!

Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks kick off the 2022 NBA Playoffs! The home side finish the regular season as the best team in the East, while the visitors only punched their ticket to the playoffs through this week’s play-in tournament!

Miami Heat – Statistics & current form

Head Coach Erik Spoelstra’s squad will be looking for home court advantage in the upcoming game. No team posted a higher home winning percentage in the Eastern Conference after the conclusion of the regular season than Miami. Only a dozen of the 41 home games ended in a loss!

The successful season was also achieved largely through a reliable defensive effort. Only the Suns, Warriors and Celtics were ahead of Heat in the corresponding rating at the final tally.

From a personnel point of view, the situation also improved again shortly before the end of the season. Victor Oladipo played his first eight games of the season since last month. The forward proved that he is still very powerful despite his long break from the game.

In the last game of the regular season, when he played more than 30 minutes for the first time, the 29-year-old scored an impressive 40 points! On top of that, he pulled down ten rebounds, which also gave him his first double-double of the season

Atlanta Hawks – Statistics & current form

The Hawks reached the postseason like last year, but the ticket had to be fought hard by participating in the play-in tournament as described.

Last year, the road led all the way to the Conference Finals in the East, proving that coach Nate McMillan’s team can handle the particularly high pressure at this crucial stage of the season.

The point guard made the playoffs for the first time in his career last season and came up trumps on that stage. In the 16 games Young averaged 28.8 points and 9.5 assists!

In addition, in the three most recent direct duels with Miami, he has always recorded the highest yield of all players on the court, although he has had to share this performance with Tyler Herro from the opponent at least once.

Miami Heat – Atlanta Hawks Tip

Miami, of course, has a clear physical advantage as Heat, unlike the visitors, did not have to play any extra games in the play-in tournament this week. As a result, the home side will be much fresher.

For the clash between the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, the forecast includes a home win with at least a seven-point difference.

The record from the regular season also speaks in favour of this. In the regular season, the hosts won three of the four duels.

Furthermore, the hosts are very strong at home and this quality feature also applies to this pairing in particular: as can be seen from the fact that Spoelstra’s team has only lost one of the last nine home games against the Hawks!