Heat, Hawks clash with major playoff implications
The Miami Heat are guaranteed a fourth straight year in the play-in round, but -- with one game left in the regular season -- there's still something for Miami to chase.
On Sunday night, the Heat (42-39) will host the Atlanta Hawks (46-35). If Miami beats Atlanta and Charlotte loses at the New York Knicks, the Heat will have home-court advantage against the Hornets in a do-or-die play-in game next week.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he would've preferred to have made the playoff round outright, but ...
"We're there (in the play-in)," he said. "We still have an opportunity to get home court (against Charlotte). We want to maximize that opportunity."
On Friday, the Heat broke a two-game losing streak with a 140-117 win at Washington. The Heat are just 4-10 over their past 14 games but are 7-1 in games in which they make at least 20 3-pointers.
Indeed, Miami shot 20 of 37 from deep on Friday, and the Heat did that despite playing without several key players who are injured: Tyler Herro (right foot), Norman Powell (groin), Davion Mitchell (right shoulder), Dru Smith (right foot), and Nikola Jovic (left ankle).
Their status for the game vs. the Hawks is uncertain, but the Heat have solid depth, as they showed on Friday with Simone Fontecchio and Pelle Larsson scoring 24 points each, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. adding 23. Bam Adebayo contributed 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Fontecchio, who has played 70 games this season, got just his ninth start of the campaign on Friday, and he earned praise from Spoelstra.
"He has always kept himself ready," Spoelstra said. "He's done a lot of things that have made me take notice. He's one of our better rebounders. He gives us positional size, and he's ignitable as a shooter. If he sees a couple go down, it can be an avalanche from there."
Meanwhile, the Hawks have clinched their first playoff berth since 2023. Atlanta, the Southeast Division champion, will be seeded either fifth or sixth. The team's first-round opponent will be either the Cavaliers if Atlanta holds on to the fifth seed, or the Knicks if the Hawks slip to sixth.
Atlanta, which has not won a playoff series since 2021, is led by Jalen Johnson, a first-time All-Star this season. He tops the Hawks in scoring (22.5 points per game), rebounds (10.3 per game), and assists (7.9).
Johnson had 18 points, nine rebounds, and two assists in just 25 minutes in Atlanta's 124-102 playoff-clinching win over visiting Cleveland on Friday.
Dyson Daniels, CJ McCollum, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are three more Hawks players to watch.
Daniels had his second career triple-double on Friday with 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. For the season, he averages 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.9 assists and a team-high 2.0 steals.
Alexander-Walker is second on the Hawks in scoring (20.8 ppg), and McCollum is third (18.7). McCollum scored a game-high 29 points on Friday.
"These guys believed we could do this," Hawks coach Quin Snyder said when asked about making the playoffs. "This year is about building a foundation. That, regardless of what happens going forward, is a win. We're excited."