

The Athletic has live coverage of Heat vs. Bulls and Mavericks vs. Kings in the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament
By Jared Weiss, James Jackson, Darnell Mayberry and Alex Andrejev
The Miami Heat kept their playoff hopes alive with a dominant, 109-90 win over the Chicago Bulls in the NBA’s Play-In Tournament on Wednesday night.
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The Heat — led by Tyler Herro with 38 points — will next face the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, with the winner of that game taking on the No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round as the No. 8 seed in the East. The Bulls, meanwhile, were bounced from the postseason.
Below are instant takeaways from Wednesday’s Play-In action. Check back for updates after the Dallas Mavericks-Sacramento Kings game.
Heat 109, Bulls 90
Total domination by Miami
A perfect first half for Herro put Miami in the driver’s seat from the beginning, and now the Heat move on in clinical fashion. This was a wire-to-wire dismantling by Miami, completely stifling the Bulls’ offense while creating open shots consistently throughout the first half. When the Bulls were able to get something cooking, the Heat defense would pull off a block or steal to put any momentum to bed.
The Bulls’ 11 first-half turnovers doomed any sense of rhythm they could find and they just never found a matchup they could actually target. Now the Heat visit the Hawks, who couldn’t stay composed against a physical Orlando defense Tuesday night. With the way the Heat played in Chicago, their chances of making it to Cleveland for the first round are looking good. — Jared Weiss, NBA writer
38 FOR TYLER pic.twitter.com/o908JCO9Th
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 17, 2025
Heating up to stay alive
The Heat had one of their best offensive performances of the season at the right time. Although the statistics won’t count, this win kept Miami’s season alive for another game.
All season, the Heat struggled to either win close games or maintain double-digit leads, but it handled business thanks to Herro (23 first-half points, game-high 38), Andrew Wiggins (20 points) and Bam Adebayo (15 points, nine rebounds, three assists) leading the way.
The Heat used a healthy formula of timely 3s (13), crisp passing (30 assists to 15 by the Bulls) and sound defense to put together one of their best games of the season. Chicago made several pushes to overcome its double-digit deficit, but Josh Giddey’s 25 points weren’t enough. — James Jackson, NBA writer
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Bulls crash out of Play-In (again)
Maybe this was the type of experience the retooled Bulls needed, a win-or-go-home elimination game to test how far they’ve come.
After winning 15 of their final 20 games, belief began brewing. Against all odds, a roster lined with cubs and castoffs came together to inspire confidence that maybe they just might sneak into the postseason and make a little noise.
But then it all came crashing down in Wednesday’s loss. The Bulls never led and trailed by as many as 25 points. Chicago had no answers for Herro, who was 13-for-19 shooting from the field.
It’s the third straight year that Chicago’s season has ended with a loss to the Heat in the Play-In Tournament.
The biggest difference for the Bulls as they head into the offseason this year is the young nucleus they have assembled. Giddey, who arrived from Oklahoma City in last summer’s Alex Caruso trade, led the Bulls with 25 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. The Bulls have made clear their intention to re-sign the 22-year-old point guard this summer. Coby White, 25, led Chicago in scoring this season but struggled Wednesday with 17 points on 5-for-20 shooting.
Chicago finished the regular season at 39-43 for the second consecutive season. — Darnell Mayberry, Bulls senior writer
(Photo: David Banks / USA Today via Imagn Images)
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