Miami Heat has got only Friday to make a win after their defeat to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami.
The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Heat 116-105 and proceeded to the playoffs (and a first-round series against Boston) while leaving the Heat one loss from elimination.
The Heat will face the winner of Wednesday’s Toronto-Chicago play-in game on Friday night. The winner of the game will then proceed to play the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in a first-round playoff series which will start on Sunday.
“Nothing about this season has been easy. We’re going to do this the hard way. We’re going to put our arms around each other, get to the film,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Tuesday’s game was like a remake of the first round of last season’s playoffs where the Heat won the series in five games. More recently, Miami won three of four regular-season meetings and boasted an 11-1 record in its last 12 regular and postseason home games against Atlanta, including seven consecutive wins.
The Hawks Troll Heat On Twitter
After their victory, the Hawks’ Twitter account trolled the Heat for being the first seventh-place team to lose a game in the play-in tournament — and even tossed some shade at the Miami Marlins.