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Head coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat reacts during the second half against the Miami Heat at Capital One Arena on April 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n
Scott Taetsch<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Miami Heat will enter the final day of the NBA regular season on Sunday with something to play for.<\/p>\n
While the Heat already knows it will need to take part in the NBA\u2019s play-in tournament for the fourth straight year and also knows it will need to win two straight games in the play-in to qualify for the playoffs as the Eastern Conference\u2019s No. 8 seed because it can finish only ninth or 10th in the East, it doesn\u2019t yet know whether it will be at home or on the road for that first game in the play-in tourney.<\/p>\n
Friday night\u2019s 140-117 win over the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena kept the Heat\u2019s hopes alive of hosting the No. 9 vs. No. 10 East play-in game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s harrowing,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of needing to again take part in the play-in tournament, with Miami just 4-10 in its last 14 games over the last month. \u201cWe say it every year that we\u2019ve been in there, you don\u2019t want to be in there. But that\u2019s sometimes the path you have to take.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Heat and Charlotte Hornets will face off on Tuesday or Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in a win-or-go-home play-in tournament game aired exclusively on Prime, but the location of that elimination matchup is still up in the air.<\/p>\n
The Heat (42-39) enters the final day of the regular season in 10th place in the East, one loss behind the ninth-place Hornets (43-38).<\/p>\n
If the Heat defeats the Atlanta Hawks in its regular-season finale on Sunday at Kaseya Center (6 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) and the Hornets lose to the New York Knicks on Sunday at Madison Square Garden (6 p.m.), the Heat will move into ninth place in the East and the Hornets would fall to 10th place. This would have the Heat hosting the Hornets in the East\u2019s No. 9 vs. No. 10 elimination play-in game on Tuesday or Wednesday.<\/p>\n
But if the Heat loses to the Hawks or the Hornets defeat the Knicks, the Heat would finish in 10th place in the East and the Hornets would close in ninth place. This scenario would have the Hornets hosting the Heat in the East\u2019s No. 9 vs. No. 10 win-or-go-home play-in game on Tuesday or Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Along with needing two results to go its way, there are a few other factors working against Miami\u2019s hopes of hosting its play-in matchup against Charlotte.<\/p>\n
First, the Heat will face a motivated Hawks team on Sunday still playing for seeding.<\/p>\n
With a win over the Heat on the final day of the regular season, the Hawks can clinch the East\u2019s No. 5 playoff spot. But a loss to the Heat could drop the Hawks as far as seventh place in the East and into play-in tournament territory, depending on other results.<\/p>\n
Second, the Hornets will be playing a Knicks team on Sunday with little to play for. The Knicks are already locked into the East\u2019s No. 3 playoff seed, which could have them sitting most of their regulars on the final day of the regular season.<\/p>\n
The Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers appear to be on track to play in the East\u2019s No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game, but the Hawks and Toronto Raptors could also be in that game depending on other results on Sunday.<\/p>\n
While the entire league is off on Saturday, every team in the NBA will play on the final day of the regular season on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The play-in tournament, which features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference, will begin Tuesday and end on Friday.<\/p>\n
How does the play-in tournament work?<\/p>\n
The seventh-place team in each conference hosts the eighth-place team in a play-in game. The winner of this matchup earns the seventh playoff seed.<\/p>\n
The ninth-place team in each conference hosts the 10th-place team in another play-in game. The loser of this matchup is eliminated from playoff contention, while the winner of this matchup goes on the road to take on the loser of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game for the right to the eighth playoff seed.<\/p>\n
The teams that are eliminated in the play-in tournament before getting to the playoffs are seeded into the NBA Draft lottery based on regular-season record.<\/p>\n
So, the Heat will either need to win two straight road play-in games to make the playoffs as the East\u2019s No. 8 seed if it finishes the regular season in 10th place or win one home play-in game and one road play-in game to qualify for the playoffs as the East\u2019s No. 8 seed if it closes the regular season in ninth place.<\/p>\n
Since the Heat is locked into the East\u2019s No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game, the only team it can face in the first round of the playoffs if it gets there through the play-in would be the East\u2019s top-seeded Detroit Pistons. That first-round playoff series would begin Sunday, April 19.<\/p>\n
The Heat has escaped the play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons to qualify for the playoffs as the East\u2019s No. 8 seed.<\/p>\n
In addition, the Heat enters the final day of the regular season with the 13th-worst record in the NBA. That would come with a 1 percent chance at the top pick and a 4.8 percent chance of a top-four pick in this year\u2019s draft if Miami doesn\u2019t make the playoffs, but it could move up to the 11th-worst record in the draft lottery depending on Sunday\u2019s results, how the play-in tournament unfolds and the results of a random drawing if the Heat and other lottery teams finish with the same record.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an opportunity still to potentially have a home-court [advantage] in that first [play-in] game,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cWe just want to come out and do what we need to do to get the win on Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lineup change?<\/p>\n
Following Friday\u2019s road win over the Wizards, Spoelstra hinted that he could make a late-season lineup change to move second-year center Kel\u2019el Ware into the Heat\u2019s starting unit and second-year guard Pelle Larsson to a bench role.<\/p>\n
After making a switch to start Ware and play Larsson off the bench in Friday\u2019s victory, Spoelstra appeared to suggest that it\u2019s a move he wants to stick with.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of it was trying to get Kel\u2019el into that lineup,\u201d Spoelstra said following the win over the Wizards. \u201cKel\u2019el is really important to what we\u2019re trying to do. We all know about his upside. This can get him next to Bam [Adebayo], stabilize him a little bit to start the game. And then it gives us a little bit of flexibility as the game moves on.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes in the last couple of weeks, some of the lineups with Bam have been really good. And then we end up going longer with that, and it just ends up being longer for Kel\u2019el sitting on the bench. And he\u2019s a key player for us, so this allows him to get some minutes right out of the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday marked the 24th game this season that Adebayo and Ware have started together, but Ware has primarily played off the bench as Adebayo\u2019s backup this season. The Heat has outscored opponents by 7.9 points per 100 possessions in the 492 minutes that the double-big look of Adebayo and Ware has been on the court this season.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the Wizards outscored the Heat by two points in the 13 minutes that Adebayo and Ware played together.<\/p>\n
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