Heat Face Pistons With Sights Set On Number Three Seed
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DETROIT (CBSMiami/SportsDirect) – The playoff picture in the Eastern Conference is both clear and murky at the same time.
The Miami Heat and the Detroit Pistons have both locked up playoff spots but are caught up in a seeding jumble.
The Pistons will be trying to avoid the No. 8 seed and a first-round date with the Cleveland Cavaliers when they host the Heat on Monday.
Detroit is tied for the No. 7 spot with Indiana but lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Pacers and will need to finish a game ahead in order to get the No. 7 spot.
"Both those teams are really good," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters of the Cavaliers and the second-place Toronto Raptors. "I'm of the mindset that you always want to finish as high as you can finish," he said. "It's not a matter of I'd rather play Toronto, don't want to play Cleveland. If you have a choice between finishing seventh and eighth, I don't know, seventh sounds better to me. That's the way I am."
The Heat are fighting for homecourt advantage in the first round with the Boston Celtics and have won six straight at home while dropping four of five on the road.
Miami took down Orlando 118-96 on Sunday in its home portion of the home-and-home series.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Sun (Miami), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE HEAT (47-33): Center Hassan Whiteside had been coming off the bench for the last two months but was finally moved back into the starting lineup on Sunday as the team prepares for the playoffs.
Whiteside responded with 18 points, 15 rebounds and a pair of blocks in the win.
"We need a higher level from Hassan, and I thought the time was right now," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters in explaining the lineup change. "This basketball team needs him to play at his best level, his most aggressive level, his most consistent level, his most reliable level, his most dominant physical level."
ABOUT THE PISTONS (43-37): Detroit snapped a string of six straight seasons without a playoff appearance and is returning to the postseason with a young core.
"It's huge for us. It's huge for our organization," Van Gundy told reporters. "We've got four starters in there who've never been. Huge for them. It's a great milestone for them to get in and we hope this is just the start of bigger things. But you've got to start somewhere and this is it."
Point guard Reggie Jackson, 25, is one of those young guys and propelled the team to the playoffs with 39 points and nine assists in Friday's 112-99 win over Washington.
BUZZER BEATERS
- Heat G/F Joe Johnson had a string of six straight games scoring in double figures come to an end with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting on Sunday.
- Jackson has gone over 20 points in four straight games after failing to reach the mark in the previous 10 contests.
- Miami rolled past Detroit 107-89 at home on April 5 after losing the first two meetings.
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