Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishBy Jenna West, John Hollinger and James JacksonThe Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament.The Miami Heat escaped the Atlanta Hawks in Friday’s thrilling 123-114 overtime win to keep their season alive and advance to the NBA playoffs.Tyler Herro led the Heat with 30 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as Miami held the lead most of the game. The Hawks went up in the fourth quarter and tied the game for the first time with Terance Mann’s two-pointer with 8:09 left. Herro and the Hawks’ Trae Young traded baskets before Young’s driving layup with 1.1 left in regulation tied the game again, sending it to overtime.
TRAE YOUNG SENDS IT TO OVERTIME ‼️ pic.twitter.com/V734a8LUm9
— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2025The Heat quickly pulled away to beat the Hawks and earn the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed in the playoffs, where they will face the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.Miami, which defeated the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, becomes the first No. 10 seed in Play-In Tournament history to clinch a playoff berth.Miami brings the heatA combination of timely defensive stops and crucial buckets helped Miami hold off Atlanta’s late-game rally into overtime for the conference’s final playoff seed. While Herro and Bam Adebayo (17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists) led the way, Davion Mitchell was among the Heat’s role players doing everything they could to keep Miami’s season alive.Mitchell, acquired via trade in February, scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half and overtime. The Heat outscored the Hawks by nine in Mitchell’s 40:02 as a reserve. A huge key to his contributions was a flurry of 3s in overtime to keep Miami ahead. He hit four 3s for the game, including three over about a three-minute span in the final period. Mitchell has been a crucial reason for Miami’s playoff push, given his combination of floor-spacing, defensive contributions and energy.It was almost a tough loss for the Heat, who led the NBA with 28 clutch-time losses in the regular season, but they continued a strong run of basketball in recent weeks. Miami has ten wins in 14 contests since snapping its 10-game losing streak on March 23. — James Jackson, NBA staff editorHawks couldn’t escape HeatThe Hawks fought valiantly but didn’t quite have enough in an overtime loss to Miami that ended their season at 40-42. In the end, they had too little size, too little shooting, and not enough scoring punch, especially after they lost Jalen Johnson to injury and traded De’Andre Hunter midseason.Still, it’s hard to call the season a failure. Dyson Daniels emerged as an elite defender, other young players like Zaccharie Risacher, Onyeka Okongwu and Mo Gueye developed nicely as the year went on, and the Hawks turned De’Andre Hunter’s iffy contract into multiple draft assets from Cleveland.The team is miles from contending, but they’re in a better place than 12 months ago. — John Hollinger, NBA senior writerHawks’ focus moves to their draft picksAtlanta will lose its draft pick to San Antonio for the Dejounte Murray trade, but Friday’s defeat also could affect another pick. Atlanta has a top-12 protected pick from Sacramento from the Kevin Huerter trade that may or may not convey based on other results.If the Memphis Grizzlies win Friday’s second Play-In game and the pick isn’t drawn into the top 4 in the lottery, Atlanta will pick either 13th or 14th. However, if the Dallas Mavericks beat Memphis, there will be a random drawing Monday to determine whether the pick from Sacramento lands 12th or 13th before the lottery. The Hawks would only keep the pick if it were 13th following the lottery.The Hawks will also have a late first-round pick from the Lakers from the trade that sent Murray to New Orleans for Daniels. — HollingerWill Trae Young stay in Atlanta?The most immediate question heading into the offseason: What about Trae Young’s future? The All-Star guard has one guaranteed season left on his deal after this one and is eligible to sign an extension this summer.Does Atlanta want to commit to him for multiple years at the max? Does Young want to stay? Are they concerned about going down that road while trying to develop the rest of the young core? If not, is there a trade here that makes sense?Many similar questions will be asked in the coming weeks. — Hollinger(Photo: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
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