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Tonight, the NBA Play-In Tournament reached a frantic end as the Miami Heat defeated the Atlanta Hawks 123-114 in overtime to secure the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Miami’s Tyler Herro was superb, scoring 30 points and adding two key three-pointers in overtime. The Heat propelled themselves to victory after giving up a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter.
With the win, the Heat advance to the first round of the playoffs to face off against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, while Atlanta’s season sadly ends here. Let's take a look at some takeaways from tonight. 1.
Another slow start and second quarter revive In the first quarter, the Hawks shot a woeful 36% from the field, 10% from three, and saw another slow start from Trae Young. Although Young finished the first half with 12 points, he shot 18% from the field and 25% from three; he has also struggled this season against the Heat, shooting 35% from the field and 26% from three while averaging a double-double of 17 points and 12 assists in those four games. However, Young finished the game with 29 points and 11 assists, but still left for more to be desired for the Hawks team early on, as they couldn't get much going outside of Young and Okongwu offensively.
2. The Hawks bench came ready to play The Atlanta Hawks bench, led by Caris LeVert and Georges Niang, scored a combined 25 points in the first half on 62% shooting compared to the starters, who shot 27% from the floor. The bench finished the game scoring 40 points and helped keep the team alive in the second half.
3. Atrocious defense and lack of effort rebounding The Hawks effort was really glaring in this game, at times it really makes you wonder about how much they wanted this games as they gave up easy second chance scoring and rebounding opportunities. The Heat shot 50% from the field, 38% from three point range, out-rebounded the Hawks 54-44, and scored 17 second chance points as a result.
On one of the last plays of the game Trae Young allowed Davion Mitchell to shoot a wide open three and get a rebound over him while being down by six points for example. 4. Onyeka Okongwu and Trae Young Two of the Hawks' veteran starters from the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals Atlanta team stepped up tonight, especially in the second half.
After being down by as many as 17 to start the game, the Hawks came back to take the lead on the backs of Okongwu and Young. Young finished the game with 29 points and 11 assists, and Okongwu finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds. 4.
Overtime In overtime, the Hawks came out a bit slow and uninspired for much of the quarter, allowing the Miami Heat to get out to a nine point lead before scoring. The Heat started off shooting four of four from three point range in overtime and were led by Davion Mitchell and Tyler Herro in overtime scoring where the Hawks had no answers to stop them. 5.
Trae Young's future in Atlanta With Young going into the final year on his rookie max contract extension from 2021, the Atlanta Hawks front office has a huge summer on their hands to figure out if they want to continue to build around Young or trade him. Outside of the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals run, the Hawks found themselves in the Play-In Tournament four years in a row and only making the playoffs twice with two first round exits in that time. It is also important to note that they are the first team in NBA history to lose to the tenth seed in the Play-In Tournament, but with that being said, the Hawks did start the season off promising making it to the final four in the In Season Tournament, but after losing Jalen Johnson, the team took a major dip in play.
The lack of help is glaring and one has to wonder if he will want to re-sign the extension if the Hawks don't try to get him another All-Star caliber player this summer. Related Links: Atlanta Hawks vs Miami Heat: Starting Lineups For Tonight's Play-In Game Is Trae Young Playing Tonight vs the Miami Heat? 2025 NBA Draft: Tonight's Play-In Games Have Major Ramifications For The Atlanta Hawks Draft Position.
