The final spot of the Eastern Conference playoff will be filled on Friday when the Miami Heat (38-45) head north to take on the Atlanta Hawks (40-43) in a battle for the eighth seed.
The Heat are looking to qualify for their sixth straight playoff appearance and haven’t missed an opening round since 2019. Miami pulled out an impressive 109-90 road win to reach this point, relying on a heroic effort by Tyler Herro to make this final play-in game.
Atlanta is eyeing a return to the postseason following last year’s hiatus. The Hawks lost an opportunity to clinch that return on Tuesday, falling to the Orlando Magic 120-95 on the road.
With the eighth and final play-in position on the line, will the Heat or Hawks take that spot? We’ll answer that question while providing bettors with our top three player prop bets from the Friday play-in game.
Herro has become Miami’s most prolific scorer this season, finishing with a career-best 23.9 points during the regular season. He added 5.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists for the Heat this year, showing his all-around growth during his sixth NBA season.
When these two teams met up late last month, Herro torched the Hawks’ defense for 36 points off an 11-of-17 shooting performance. It was the second time during these two teams’ four-game series that the point guard scored 28 or more points. Bettors should take the over on his player prop wager for Friday night as he’ll again find his touch with the Heat’s season on the line.
As gifted of a scorer as Atlanta point guard Trae Young is, fans sometimes forget about how well he facilitates the Hawks’ offense. During the regular season, Young finished with 24.2 points and an NBA-leading 11.6 assists per game.
He’s enjoyed several strong games agains the Heat this season. In three of the four matchups, Young finished with 12 or more assists to help his team finish the year with a pair of wins against Miami. Expect him to continue finding open teammates on Friday night and cover this player prop bet.
Since adding small forward Andrew Wiggins to the lineup, Miami center Bam Adebayo has taken a back seat offensively to the talented 6-foot-7 player. Still, Adebayo has proven in his eighth NBA season he’s still got it, averaging 18.1 points and team-best 9.6 rebounds during the regular season.
Against Atlanta, Adebayo has been a strong contributor on both ends of the court. Yet in four games this season, the 6-foot-9 center has not finished with more than 29 combined points and rebounds. In this fifth and final matchup, expect him to defer offensively to Wiggins as he’ll fail to cover this player prop bet on Friday.
Miami’s body of work over the past month suggests the team has found ways to win without Jimmy Butler, posting eight wins since March 23. That includes a six-game winning streak that featured victories over Golden State and Atlanta.
The Hawks have only two victories over the past month against teams that have advanced to the playoffs despite owning the same number of wins during that stretch. Expect the Heat to win this game by more than a field goal, advancing to the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the sixth straight season.
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