Miami Heat guard Alec Burks (18) defends Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey (3) during the first quarter at United Center. David Banks David Banks-Imagn Images
CHICAGO
The Miami Heat traded Jimmy Butler in February, and the Chicago Bulls dealt away Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan after last season. But some things haven’t changed.
The Heat and Bulls faced off in the NBA’s play-in tournament for the third straight season and the Heat ended the Bulls’ season in the play-in tournament for the third straight season on Wednesday.
The Eastern Conference’s 10th-place Heat routed the ninth-place Bulls 109-90 on Wednesday night at United Center, moving one step closer to making the playoffs. The Heat will travel to take on the eighth-place Atlanta Hawks on Friday at State Farm Arena (7 p.m., TNT), with the winner of that play-in game will clinch the East’s No. 8 playoff seed and open the first round of the playoffs against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena.
Meanwhile, the loss ended the Bulls’ season. The Heat also eliminated the Bulls in the play-in tournament in 2023 and 2024.
The Heat started fast behind a scorching start from Tyler Herro, pulling ahead by as many as 25 points in the first half. Herro scored 23 of his game-high 38 points in the first two quarters.
But the Bulls tried to make a second-half push, outscoring the Heat 27-17 in the third quarter to enter the fourth quarter in a 14-point hole.
The Bulls then pulled within 13 points multiple times early in the fourth quarter, but that’s the closest they would get. After the Bulls cut the deficit to 13 with 10:24 to play, the Heat responded with a game-sealing 12-2 run to push its lead back up to 23 with 4:24 left in the final period.
After the Bulls swept their three-game regular-season series against the Heat, Chicago could not make it four straight wins over Miami.
Along with Herro’s big night, Andrew Wiggins contributed 20 points on 8-of-20 shooting from the field and 4-of-9 shooting on threes, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks for the Heat.
Heat center Bam Adebayo recorded a double-double with 15 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Davion Mitchell totaled 15 points and nine assists in 33 minutes off the Heat’s bench.
Bulls guard Josh Giddey finished the loss with 25 points, 10 rebounds four assists. But Giddey’s Bulls co-star Coby White struggled with 17 points on 5-of-20 shooting from the field and 3-of-12 shooting on threes while committing seven turnovers.
The Bulls shot just 39.8 percent from the field and 10 of 37 (27 percent) from three-point range in the loss, as Miami outscored Chicago 56-40 in the paint.
The Heat is now one win away from becoming the first 10th-place team in either conference to make the playoffs from the play-in tournament since this current play-in format was first instituted for the 2020-21 season.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s play-in win over the Bulls on Wednesday:
Tyler Herro was the catalyst, putting together an offensive masterpiece to help keep the Heat’s season alive.
Herro was hot from the start, totaling 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line in the first quarter. It’s tied for the second-most points that Herro has ever scored in the first quarter during his NBA career.
Herro’s scorching shooting continued in the second quarter, finishing the first half with 23 points on perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the field, 3-of-3 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line. That’s the second-most points that Herro has ever totaled in a first half during his NBA career.
Herro made his first eight field-goal attempts of the game before missing his first shot of the second half. It marked just the seventh time since 1996 that a Heat player has been 8 for 8 from the field or better at halftime, according to the Associated Press.
Herro went on to finish with a game-high 38 points on 13-of-19 shooting from the field, 3-of-7 shooting on threes, 9-of-10 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes.That’s the most ever points by a Heat player in the franchise’s five play-in tournament games, surpassing Kyle Lowry’s previous mark of 33 points.
After struggling against the Bulls’ up-tempo style in the regular season, the Heat found a way to slow the Bulls on Wednesday.
The Heat ended this regular season with the NBA’s fourth-slowest pace at 97.1 possessions per 48 minutes and the Bulls closed this regular season with the league’s second-fastest pace at 103.6 possessions per 48 minutes.
The three regular-season games between the Heat and Bulls were played at a pace of 103.5 possessions per 48 minutes, with Chicago outscoring Miami by a total margin of 55-36 in fast-break points over those three meetings. That’s the fastest pace that any regular-season series involving the Heat was played at this season.
But it was the Heat that controlled the pace in Wednesday’s must-win contest, outscoring the Bulls 14-13 in transition.
The Heat got rookie guard Pelle Larsson back from injury, but he didn’t play. Also, it seems like Nikola Jovic is close to making his return.
Larsson, who missed the final three games of the regular season after spraining his right ankle during a pregame weightlifting session in Chicago last week, returned to make himself available for Wednesday’s win-or-go-home play-in contest. But Larsson did not play against the Bulls.
“He’s just coming back,” Spoelstra said of Larsson during his pregame media session on Wednesday. “So he’ll be available and we’ll just have to see. But he was right back at the scene of the crime doing the same routine. That’s been a big part of his process and a lot of the guys’ process. He finished the routine and he’s fine.”
Jovic missed his 28th straight game on Wednesday after breaking his right hand in late February. However, Jovic appears to be nearing his return after being upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s contest for the first time since hurting his hand before eventually being ruled out.
“It is a very positive sign,” Spoelstra said Wednesday of Jovic’s questionable designation. “Yesterday he was able to go through the whole practice and he did some real live stuff that you guys saw afterwards. So I think we were responsible all the way through. He was able to do a bunch of player development and conditioning.”
Along with missing Jovic, the Heat was also without Kevin Love (return to competition reconditioning). Two-way contract players Josh Christopher, Dru Smith and Isaiah Stevens were also unavailable for the Heat because two-way deals do not come with postseason eligibility, and Smith is out for the rest of the season after rupturing his Achilles in December.
The Bulls were missing Lonzo Ball (right wrist sprain), Ayo Dosunmu (left shoulder surgery) and Tre Jones (left midfoot sprain) against the Heat.
There were no big Heat rotation surprises to begin the postseason.
The Heat stuck with its regular-season-ending starting lineup of Tyler Herro, Alec Burks, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware for Wednesday’s play-in game.
The Heat then used a four-man bench rotation of Haywood Highsmith, Davion Mitchell, Kyle Anderson and Duncan Robinson.
After Wednesday’s win in Chicago, only one road win over the Hawks separates the Heat from making the playoffs for the sixth straight season.
The winner of Friday’s contest between the Heat and Hawks in Atlanta will qualify for the playoffs as the East’s eighth seed and open the first round of the playoffs against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena on Sunday at 7 p.m. on TNT. The loser of Friday’s game in Atlanta enters the offseason.
The Heat and Hawks split their four-game regular-season series 2-2, with the Heat winning both games in Miami but losing both games in Atlanta.
The Hawks are led by four-time All-Star guard Trae Young, but he has struggled to score efficiently against the Heat. Young has averaged 17 points per game while shooting just 35 percent from the field and 26.5 percent on threes in four games against the Heat this regular season.
The two players who averaged the most points for the Hawks against the Heat this season won’t be available for Friday’s win-or-go-home play-in contest. Jalen Johnson (averaged 28 points per game against the Heat in the regular season) is out for the rest of the season because of a shoulder injury and De’Andre Hunter (averaged 26 points per game against the Heat in the regular season) was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in February.
Herro has been the Heat’s best player against the Hawks this season, averaging 24.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 40 percent on threes in four regular-season matchups against Atlanta.
The Heat’s draft pick situation remains fluid.
Whether the Heat keeps its own first-round pick for the June 25 NBA draft will depend on whether it wins Friday in Atlanta to clinch a spot in the playoffs.
If the Heat misses the playoffs, it would enter the May 12 NBA Draft Lottery with the 11th lottery seed that comes with a 2 percent chance of landing the top pick and a 9.4 percent chance of snagging a top-four pick during next month’s draft lottery.
However, if the Heat defeats the Hawks on Friday and makes the playoffs, it would not be part of the lottery and its first-round pick this year would go to the Oklahoma City Thunder — a lottery-protected selection first sent out by Miami in the 2019 trade to acquire Butler.
But the Heat does know one thing: It will have the Golden State Warriors’ first-round selection this year.
With the Warriors clinching a playoff spot with their play-in win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, the Heat will receive the Warriors’ first-round pick this year.
That pick will be 18th, 19th or 20th, with the order to be determined by a random drawing among the Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies (if the Grizzlies make the playoffs) and Milwaukee Bucks, which all finished the regular season at 48-34. The random drawing will be held on Monday at 3 p.m.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 10:04 PM.
