2024-25 Eastern Conference Play-In Preview: No. 10 Miami Heat v. No. 8 Atlanta Hawks

2024-25 Eastern Conference Play-In Preview: No. 10 Miami Heat v. No. 8 Atlanta Hawks

We are one day away from the start of the 2024-25 NBA postseason. However, there are two play-in games that remain to determine the No. 8 seeds in each conference. To tip-off Friday night’s action, the No. 10 Miami Heat, looking to make history, hit the road once more to face the No. 8 Atlanta Hawks. What does that matchup entail? Let’s dive into it!

What to know about the Miami Heat:

Starters:

• Tyler Herro
• Alec Burks
• Andrew Wiggins
• Bam Adebayo
• Kel’el Ware

Key Reserves:

• Davion Mitchell
• Haywood Highsmith
• Duncan Robinson
• Kyle Anderson

The Miami Heat experienced their worst season since 2014-15 this season, the year after the Big Three split apart, finishing 37-45. They also endured the longest losing streak of Erik Spoelstra’s career after trading away star forward Jimmy Butler and had a bottom-10 offense for the third-straight season.

Yet, if you watched just their first play-in game on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls, you wouldn’t have thought any of that was the truth. The Heat walked into United Center and eviscerated Chicago 109-90 behind a phenomenal 38-point performance from first-time All-Star Tyler Herro.

The Heat looked connected on both ends of the floor; their point-of-attack defense, which has been a struggle all season, looked excellent, courtesy of Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson. We will see if they can ride their momentum into Friday against the Hawks.

What to know about the Atlanta Hawks:

Starters:

• Trae Young
• Dyson Daniels
• Zaccharie Risacher
• Mouhamed Gueye
• Onyeka Okongwu

Key Reserves:

• Caris LeVert
• Terance Mann
• Georges Niang

The Hawks have been roughly a .500 team since they made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020-21. Their trajectory hasn’t changed, but the franchise did strike gold with Dyson Daniels, in addition to No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, who improved amicably over the course of the season into being one of the league’s top rookies.

Though the Hawks regressed back to the same ol’ group in Tuesday’s play-in against the Orlando Magic. They were bullied by the physicality and size that the Magic present, allowing them to shoot 53.4 percent from 3-point range and 42.5 percent from 3-point range (17-40) last year. The Magic aren’t a good offensive team, and that was their seventh-best offensive game of the season. That can’t happen.

While Trae Young continued to be one of the most effective offensive engines in the league, they still finished No. 17 in offense and No. 18 in defense. Miami was a top-10 offense, so the Hawks will have to be far more efficient on both ends Friday.

Key Questions:

1. Can Dyson Daniels slow down Herro?

As I alluded to above, Herro had his way with Chicago. He was aggressive, yet poise with how he relentlessly attacked a small Bulls defense. The Hawks have more length altogether, including one of the best defensive players in the NBA in Dyson Daniels, who’s up for Defensive Player of the Year. Herro had success against him this season (10-for-18 on 119 partial possessions), but Daniels has still very disruptive in their three matchups. If they can find a way to slow down the Heat’s first-time All-Star, Atlanta can win this game.

2. Coming off a frustrating performance, can Young flex his muscle against Miami’s defense?

Young had trouble against the Magic’s lengthy frontline, shooting 8-of-21 from the floor (1-5 3PT) with just six assists in 40 minutes. He was ejected out of frustration late in the fourth quarter. Young has had his fair share of struggles navigating the scrappy Heat in the past, including this year, averaging just 17.0 points on 35.0 percent shooting and 26.5 percent from deep. Davion “Off Night” Mitchell’s going to do everything to make sure the four-time All-Star is out of rhythm. Can Young overcome that?

3. Can the Heat make history?

No No. 10 seed has won two-straight play-in games in the play-in era (since 2020-21). Can Erik Spoelstra’s squad be the first?! We’ll have to wait and see!

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