Heat Fall to Hawks 116-105, Losing Seventh-Seed in Playoffs

“Nothing about this season has been easy. We’re going to do this the hard way,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

A Miami Heat team that was the Eastern Conference first-seed a year ago, are now one game away from elimination in the NBA Playoffs.

Trae Young scored 25 points, Clint Capela grabbed an impressive 21 rebounds and the Atlanta Hawks stripped the seventh-seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs away from the Miami Heat with a 116-105 victory in a play-in tournament game on Tuesday night.

“Our guys are trying to be the best version of ourselves at the end of the year. The year’s not over. So hopefully we can take this and continue to build on it. It’s one game… but it was our game,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.

Dejounte Murray added 18 points for the Hawks, who got their revenge from a five-game first-round loss to Miami last season and punched their ticket to an Eastern Conference first-round matchup with the Boston Celtics that will start Saturday.

It will be the 13th series between the Celtics and Hawks franchises, the first playoff matchup between the two since Atlanta’s six-game first-round victory in 2016.

Kyle Lowry scored 33 points for the Heat, his highest-scoring output during his two seasons with Miami.

Tyler Herro scored 26 for Miami, and Jimmy Butler would add 21 points.

“Come Friday, we have to play the legit exact opposite of how we played tonight,” Jimmy Butler said.

The Heat will host either the Toronto Raptors or Chicago Bulls on Friday to decide the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs and a spot against the first-seed Milwaukee Bucks in round one on Sunday; the Raptors and Bulls will play on Wednesday night.

The Hawks on the other hand, they improved to a 3-0 record during play-in tournament games; that’s the best record in the league since the inception of the play-in tournament in 2020.

Atlanta out-rebounded Miami 63-to-39, including 22-to-6 on the offensive end that led way to a 20-point advantage over the Heat in second-chance points.

“We all understand the moment and the time of year it is. Credit our guys for being locked in, ready and focused on the game plan,” Trae Young said.