The Miami Heat will face the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference, while the Los Angeles Lakers will play against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA play-in tournament on Tuesday, April 11, live on TNT. TNT’s live television coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET, with the Heat (44-38) hosting the Hawks at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
Who will play in the NBA Play-in tournament?
Four teams in each of the two conferences – the East and the West – play for the final two playoff spots to join the higher seeds already booked places in the postseason.
The Heat will be led by Jimmy Butler, who is averaging 22.9 points per game (PPG), 5.9 rebounds per game (RPG), and 5.3 assists per game (APG). Tyler Herro has been performing well too, with an average of 17.4 points in the last ten games. Miami has a 27-14 home record this season. Read more: Villanova frosh Cam Whitmore declares for NBA draft
Meanwhile, Trae Young is leading the Hawks with 26.2 points and 10.2 assists, while Dejounte Murray is averaging 16.3 points and five assists in the past ten games. The Hawks have a 17-24 away record.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is excited about the game, stating, “Our guys love competition. And this has high stakes to it. And that’s ultimately where you find out about yourself — when there’s stakes to it, when there’s consequences to it.”
In the other game, the LA Lakers, led by LeBron James, will host the Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena, hoping to avoid having to play another game to make it into the playoff round. LeBron said, “We put ourselves in a position where we can move on. That’s all we could ask for, to put ourselves in a position to be able to move on.
“We had obviously a very, very slow start, starting 2-10…to know where we are today, we can be happy about that, but not satisfied.”
