Miami Heat snatch Hawks' last playoff ticket in overtime

In a thrilling finish, the Miami Heat defeated the Atlanta Hawks 123-114 on Friday in the playoffs (Play-In) and clinched the NBA Eastern Conference's final ticket.

The Heat, who won both of their Play-In games as visitors, are the first team to advance to the playoffs after finishing 10th in the regular season.

Miami thus avoided its first playoff absence since 2019 and is scheduled to meet the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

Tyler Herro once again paced the Heat with 30 points, two days after reaching 38 in the first Play-in win over the Chicago Bulls.

"We were two competitive teams fighting for the last playoff spot, both teams deserved it," the All-Star point guard said.

The Heat's other key piece was reserve point guard Davion Mitchell, who scored 9 of his 16 points in overtime and deployed effective scored on Trae Young, Atlanta's star.

Young finished with 29 points on 9-22 shooting from the field and was responsible for forcing overtime, but failed to keep Atlanta from making it two straight years out of the postseason.

The Hawks, who finished the regular season in eighth place, had already squandered a chance to qualify by falling on Tuesday on Orlando Magic's home court.

On Friday, they had a second chance in front of their 17,000 fans and were able to get back after several Miami blows, starting with a 17-point lead (45-28) they had in the second quarter.

Young, who went into the locker room with a 2-11 run, and his teammates stepped up the pace after the break to take the lead midway through the third quarter.

The final stretch of the game was a thrilling exchange of baskets between two teams on the brink.

A missed free throw by Herro allowed Young, with only six seconds on the clock, to force overtime with a dizzying run from his own court in which he left Aaron Wiggins behind and scored a layup.

But even though they are now without their former leader, Jimmy Butler, the Heat brought out their competitiveness in overtime, in which Mitchell sank Atlanta with three devastating three-pointers.

In the West, the Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks played for the final ticket to the postseason on Friday.