Explaining how NBA’s play-in tournament works and what it means for Miami Heat
The Miami’s Heat postseason journey begins in the play-in tournament, but it’s technically still not in the playoffs.
With the Heat locked into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, it will host the eighth-place Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in a play-in game aired exclusively on TNT for the right to the East’s seventh playoff seed.
If the Heat defeats the Hawks, it will open the playoffs with a first-round series against the second-seeded Boston Celtics in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference finals. Game 1 would be in Boston on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN.
If the Heat loses to the Hawks, it will get one more opportunity to qualify for the playoffs on Friday with a home game at either 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. on TNT against the winner of Wednesday’s No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in matchup between the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls (7 p.m., ESPN).
The winner of this third play-in game Friday clinches the East’s No. 8 playoff seed and begins the playoffs with a first-round series against the top-seeded Bucks in Milwaukee on Sunday at a time still to be determined. The loser of Friday’s play-in game between the loser of Heat-Hawks and winner of Raptors-Bulls is eliminated and misses the playoffs entirely.
The NBA’s play-in tournament features the seventh- through 10th-place teams competing for the final two playoffs seeds in each conference. The NBA playoffs begin on Saturday.
The bottom line: The teams with the seventh-highest and eighth-highest winning percentages in each conference will have two opportunities to win one game to earn a playoff spot. The teams with the ninth-highest and 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference has to win two consecutive games to earn a playoff spot.
Since this version of the NBA’s play-in tournament began in the 2020-21 season, no team that has qualified for the playoffs through the play-in has won a first-round series. Play-in teams are 0-8 in first-round playoff series during the past two seasons.
This is the first time the Heat has ever been part of the play-in tournament.
