One game, one chance, one night to salvage the season.
That is what it has come down to for the Miami Heat.
Failing to take advantage of the first of two chances to advance to the NBA playoffs from the play-in tournament, after falling 116-105 Tuesday night to the visiting Atlanta Hawks, it all comes down now to a Friday home game against the Chicago Bulls or Toronto Raptors.
“At least we have a lot of experience,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the type of moment that now follows. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season, nothing about this season has been easy. So we’re going to do this the hard way.”
Win Friday, and it’s on to the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs starting Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Lose Friday, and no playoffs, just the lowest seed in next month’s draft lottery for non-playoff teams.
“We’re aware of what’s at stake,” guard Tyler Herro said, “and we’ll be ready.”
Falling behind by double digits early and then by 24 in the second period, second-half rallies fell short, as Atlanta advanced to the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 7 seed, to face the No. 2 Boston Celtics in the opening round.
“It’s really not explainable,” Herro said. “We got beat.”
Three potent scoring efforts weren’t enough on a night the Hawks displayed rebounding dominance and superior depth.
Kyle Lowry led the Heat with 33 points, with Herro adding 26 points and Jimmy Butler 21. Beyond that, no Heat player had more than Bam Adebayo’s 12.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 25 points, in one of his best recent efforts against the Heat.
The Hawks closed with a 63-39 rebounding advantage.
“They beat the hell out of us on the glass,” Herro said.
Said Butler, “The rebounding was just horrendous.”
Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday’s game:
1. Closing time: The Hawks went up 12 early and took a 36-27 lead into the second period. From there, Atlanta pushed its lead to 24 in the second period and went into the intermission up 65-50.
“We’ve definitely got to start out better,” Butler said. “That’s been a problem of ours all year long.”
The Heat further furiously rallied within 73-68 midway through the third quarter, before the Hawks pushed back to a 91-78 lead entering the fourth.
“The start, that happens,” Spoelstra said. “We were able to fight back into it.”
A Lowry 3-pointer drew the Heat within seven midway through the fourth quarter, but the Hawks’ second-chance points continually held the Heat at bay.
“I was particularly proud of how our guys responded when they took a punch,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.
The Heat’s largest comeback this season remains a road victory from 17 down on Feb. 11 against the Orlando Magic.
2. What’s next: With the loss, the Heat dropped into a Friday winner-take-all home game against the winner of Wednesday night’s game between the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls.
The winner of that Friday game will get the No. 8 seed and a best-of-seven first-round matchup against the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks that starts on Sunday in Milwaukee.
The loser of Friday’s game misses the playoffs and drops into the draft lottery.
“We have an opportunity to redeem ourselves Friday,” Lowry said, “and as a team we’re looking forward to that.”
The Heat went 1-3 against the Raptors and 0-3 against the Bulls during the regular season.
“Win or go home,” Adebayo said. “These are the cards we’ve been dealt.”
3. Lowry time: Lowry kept the Heat afloat with 19 first-half points, playing in attack mode.
Lowry scored 10 points over the final 2:30 of the second period, sparking an 11-0 run, to move to 6 of 8 from the field and 5 of 5 from the line in the first half.
Lowry was 2 of 3 on 3-pointers in the first half, with the rest of the Heat 2 of 13.
The 19 first-half points already were the most in any game for the 37-year-old point guard since his March 11 return from a month off due to knee pain. Over those 11 games, his high was 14 points.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Spoelstra said. “He’s an incredible competitor.”
Lowry’s previous 20-point game was when he had 21 on Dec. 23 against the Indiana Pacers. The 33 are Lowry’s career high in his two seasons with the Heat.
“We understood what time of the year it was,” Lowry said. “I wanted to be ready and firing, and that’s what it was tonight.”
4. Butler ball: Butler was in attack mode from the outset, but not necessarily efficient at 3 of 9 from the field in the first period.
He then went into the intermission 3 of 12 from the field, with just one point in the second period, the Hawks electing to defend him with the height of power forward John Collins.
All the while, Butler continually got the ball to the right places, with nine assists going into the fourth quarter.
He closed with those nine assists, at 6 of 19 from the field and 9 of 11 from the line.
“It was just an overall bad game,” Butler said.
5. The big thing: Positioned to address other roster needs at the buyout deadline, the Heat instead prioritized their power rotation.
That proved to be an epic fail Tuesday, with Kevin Love utilized for just 3:26, unable to provide the mobility needed on the defensive end and unable to offset that with 3-point shooting (he missed his lone attempt).
Cody Zeller, the other big man added on Feb. 20, played just 3:33, with his lack of athleticism also limiting.
The Heat were outscored 26-6 on second-chance points.
Hawks center Clint Capela not only closed with 21 rebounds, but his eight offensive rebounds were two more than the Heat had as a team.
“When you see the ball bounce in their direction,” Adebayo said, " it’s deflating.”
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