NBA postseason play-in primer: How it works and what comes next for Heat

This is, of course, all new for a team that rarely plays from the bottom of the playoff pack.

But here stand the Miami Heat in the NBA play-in tournament for the first time, a playoff preamble to the best-of-seven opening round that begins Saturday.

For the Heat, after finishing in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, it comes down to this: two tries to win one game and advance. Lose both, and the season is over by the time the clock strikes midnight Friday.

“I think this is going to be fun,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I think you have to embrace this new experience. To the old heads in our locker room, we’ve experienced a long career and not have had this opportunity.”

So on to the play-in it is.

“I think this is a really good game to compete and go after it,” Spoelstra said. “We’re looking forward to it. Our guys love competition and this has high stakes to it, and that’s ultimately where you find out about yourself, is when there’s stakes to it, when there’s consequences to it. And I think that’s always driven the best out of our team.”

Format: The Heat play the eighth-place Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Miami. If the Heat win that game, they are finished with the play-in round and open the best-of-seven first round Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the road against the No. 2 Boston Celtics.

Should the Heat lose Tuesday, they then would play at home Friday at either 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday’s game between the ninth-place Toronto Raptors and 10th-place Chicago Bulls. The winner of such a Friday win-or-go-home game would open the first round on Sunday against the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks.

Historical perspective: The play-in round has been contested in its current format since 2021.

In the first two years of the tournament going into this week’s game, the seventh-place team is 4-0, yet to be forced into a second game.

Last year, Brooklyn, as the seventh-place team in the Eastern Conference, won its play-in opener 115-108 against the eighth-place Cleveland Cavaliers. In the Western Conference last year, the seventh-place Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the eighth-place Los Angeles Clippers 109-104.

Seed success: In the first two seasons of the play-in, seventh-place teams have secured the No. 7 playoff seed each time. Eighth-place teams have advanced to the playoffs only once of their four possible times. Ninth-place teams have made the playoffs three of four times. And 10th-place teams have yet to advance to the playoffs.

Broadcast: There is no local television in the play-in round, therefore no game coverage on Bally Sports Sun. The Heat’s Tuesday night game airs exclusively on TNT, which also would be the case if the Heat require a Friday game.

Head to head: The Heat closed the season series 3-1 against the Hawks. Should they require a second play-in game, they finished 0-3 against the Bulls and 1-3 against the Raptors.

In potential first-round series, the Heat went 2-2 against the Celtics and 2-2 against the Bucks (winning twice when Giannis Antetokounmpo was out for Milwaukee).

Heat play-in experience: Kevin Love was a member of last season’s Cleveland Cavaliers who lost to Brooklyn in the opening round of the play-in and then lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the game for the final East playoff berth, failing to advance. Cody Zeller and Caleb Martin were with the 2021 Charlotte Hornets who were eliminated in the first game of the play-in.

Record books: Statistics from the play-in tournament are neither considered regular-season nor playoff statistics, instead in a category of their own.

Roster limits: Teams can dress up to 15 players for play-in and playoff games, with two-way players ineligible. For the Heat, that means Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson can practice and travel with the Heat, but cannot play.

Injury report: The only eligible player in the Heat-Hawks game definitively out is Heat rookie big man Nikola Jovic due to back spasms. The Heat also are listing Max Strus (finger) as probable and Kyle Lowry (knee) as questionable, with both expected to play. The Hawks report no injuries.

Schedule:

Heat vs. Hawks, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. TNT

Heat vs. Bulls/Raptors, 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. Friday, TNT (if necessary, if Heat lose Tuesday).

Heat vs. Celtics, 3:30 p.m. Saturday, (if Heat win Tuesday).

Heat vs. Bucks, Sunday, Time TBA (if Heat need Friday game vs. Bulls/Raptors and win that game).

Tickets: Available through Ticketmaster (showing Monday as low as $34).

Odds: The Heat are 4 1/2-point favorites, according to Caesar’s SportsBook, with the over-under at 226.5.