Analyst Predicts Winner Of Cavaliers-Heat Playoff Series

After an exciting Play-In Tournament, the NBA Playoffs are set!

The No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers will face the No. 8-seeded Miami Heat in the first round of the postseason, and it should be a tight series across the board.

Even though the Cavaliers are the higher seed, have a better regular season record, and have fresh legs after a week off, the Heat are not a team that can be taken for granted in a playoff series.

That said, if Cleveland comes out with the intensity and energy it has had all year long, the Cavaliers should have no issues taking down the Heat.

That's exactly what NBA.com's John Schuhmann is predicting in his series preview.

The analyst believes the Cavs will ultimately win in five games.

"[The Cavaliers have] a better defense and more offensive weapons than either of the two teams the Heat beat to get here," wrote Schuhmann.

"And while they had the league's ninth-ranked defense overall, the Heat ranked 19th defensively (118.8 points allowed per 100 possessions) in games against the league's top 10 offenses."

This projection from the analyst is a fair and realistic prediction for this series.

The Cavaliers have shown they're the better team all season, but the Heat must still be respected because of their postseason experience, their roster, and future Hall-of-Fame coach Erik Spoelstra's leadership.

As Schuhmann notes, "This is one of the best offenses we've ever seen, and the Cavs should take care of business to advance to the conference semifinals for the second straight year."

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