The Miami Heat gained clarity on a number of fronts after Tuesday’s first round of the play-in tournament, including an opponent for Friday and adding a second first-round pick.
If the Heat beat the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday night, they will face the Hawks in Atlanta on Friday after the Hawks lost to the Orlando Magic in the 7-8 play-in game on Tuesday.
The winner of that game will advance to the playoffs as the eighth seed and play the top-seeded Cavaliers beginning at 7 p.m. on Sunday on TNT.
The Heat are 2-2 against the Hawks this season and 2-1 since in the regular season since trading Jimmy Butler. Tyler Herro had 36 points and Davion Mitchell, Haywood Highsmith and Kyle Anderson combined for 37 points off the bench in the last matchup on March 27.
The Hawks struggled in their play-in game in Orlando, falling behind by as many as 22 early before cutting the deficit to single digits in the third quarter. But Atlanta unraveled after that and ended up losing by 29. Trae Young, who finished with 28 points on 8 for 21 shooting, was ejected after receiving consecutive fouls midway through the fourth quarter with his team down by 21.
“He received his second unsportsmanlike technical foul for kicking the ball away and making a mockery of the game as we were attempting to shoot the free throw for the first technical foul,” official James Williams said via the poole report, “and by rule when the player receives two unsportsmanlike fouls he’s ejected from the game.”
Frustration may play a factor if the Heat advance to play the Hawks on Friday.
Heat guaranteed a first-round pick
The Warriors will advance to the playoffs after their play-in win over the Grizzlies on Tuesday night. It also guarantees that the Heat will gain their pick in the first round of June’s draft that came over in the Jimmy Butler trade.
Butler scored 38 points in Golden State's win, while Stephen Curry finished with 37.
"I think any team has a chance when I'm on the team, but I know every team has a chance if Steph's on the team," Butler told reporters after the game.
The pick, which had been top-10 protected, will be either 18th, 19th or 20th depending on a random drawing among the Warriors, Grizzlies and Bucks, who all finished with a 48-34 record.
Miami will keep its pick in the first round if it loses in the play-in tournament this week, but will then owe an unprotected pick to Oklahoma City in 2026. If Miami advances to the playoffs, its pick will go to Oklahoma City this year.
So the Heat will have at least one first-round pick in the top 20 of June’s draft, and potentially two.
Nikola Jovic upgraded
Nikola Jovic, who has been out since Feb. 23 with a broken bone in his hand, is listed as questionable ahead of Wednesday’s game for the first time since the injury.
“He’s done a lot of lifting and conditioning,” Erik Spoelstra said. “He looks great; body fat is great. Last two or three weeks, he’s been able to do considerable player development.”
Pelle Larsson and Kevin Love are also considered questionable. Larsson injured his ankle during a pregame warmup in Chicago last week and Love has been away from the team for personal reasons. He’s listed as questionable with a return to conditioning designation.
Everyone else on the 15-man roster is available.
Spoelstra’s message: Push the pace
The Bulls play at the league’s second-fastest pace. The Heat are the league’s fourth-slowest and had trouble keeping up with Chicago’s tempo in last week’s loss.
Rather than try to slow the game down, Spoelstra told reporters after Tuesday’s practice that he wants his team to play with urgency.
“We don’t want to play a prevent offense or prevent-type game,” Spoelstra said. “We want to attack this game. You can dance with the fire, but you’ve got to be smart with it. We don’t want to play at just a snail’s pace to slow them down. They’ll still score and find a way to score.”