For all the marbles! The Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks face off in the final Eastern Conference play-in game on Friday night. The winner advances to the playoffs as the No. 8 seed and will play the Cleveland Cavaliers. The loser’s season is over.
There’s plenty of recent postseason history between these two organizations, and we get another chapter tonight.
Speaking of history, if the Heat win on Friday night, they’ll be the first-ever 10th seed to make it out of the play-in tournament and advance to the playoffs. That would be pretty cool.
Here’s what to know for Friday night’s tilt.
How to watch Heat at Hawks
Time: 7 pm ET
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta
TV: TNT, truTV, Max
Stream: Max
Notable injuries
Both teams are expected to be relatively healthy.
The Heat will have the active roster available. The Hawks will be without Jalen Johnson, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Larry Nance Jr. is also out with a season-ending injury, and backup center Clint Capela (hand) isn’t likely to be available.
Quick scout
The Hawks are coming off a disappointing blowout loss to the Orlando Magic in the first game of the play-in tournament. Trae Young was ejected midway through the fourth quarter, but he accepted the blame after the game and will be looking to bounce back.
The last time these teams played, the Heat won mainly because of their advantage at the free throw line. The Hawks rank in the bottom 10 in opponent free-throw rate, while the Heat hardly foul. Erik Spoelstra will instruct his team to be physical and get to the line. Looking at Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Bam Adebayo.
Key matchups
Trae Young vs Heat defense: All eyes will be on Young, who has struggled against the Heat throughout his career. He’s averaging 17 points on 35% shooting in four games against Miami this season. The Heat will mostly defend him with Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins and Haywood Highsmith. Young is a frequent flyer of the pick-and-roll, and Bam Adebayo’s presence as a switch defender tends to make things difficult for him.
Tyler Herro vs Dyson Daniels: Daniels is in the running for DPOY and has emerged as one of the most feared on-ball perimeter defenders in the league. Daniels pesters ball handlers the moment they cross halfcourt and will try to force the ball out of Herro’s hands. Still, Herro has had success against the Hawks despite Daniels’ presence, and is averaging 25 points on 48% shooting along with 6.8 assists against Atlanta this season.
Bam Adebayo vs Onyeka Okongwu: It took a while, but Okongwu is finally starting to live up to his draft slot and predraft comparisons to Adebayo. He’s averaging 15.6 points on 56% shooting, 10.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 1 block since the All-Star break. Like Adebayo, he’s a versatile defender who won’t spend all his time on Adebayo. But, when they are matched up, Adebayo needs to take it personally.
Betting
The Heat are 1.5-point underdogs on the road.
