Cavs To Face Either Hawks Or Heat In First Round Of Playoffs

April 16, 2025

And then there were two. Thanks to the Miami Heat’s play-in road win over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, the Cavs have a better idea of who they’ll face in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

That would be either the Heat or the Atlanta Hawks, who face off Friday night in Atlanta. The winner gets the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference — and the top-seeded Cavs.

Game 1 is Sunday at the Rocket Arena (7 p.m. EST).

Miami was hardly challenged against Chicago, building a massive lead and then only relenting briefly in the third quarter. That’s not necessarily a huge surprise, despite the fact the Bulls were playing at home.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is just a master at this time of year. That should scare the Hawks more than the Cavs, though. Cleveland is just deeper and overall more talented.

We may be saying the same about the Hawks after Friday. When it comes to the Hawks and the Heat, though, it’s anyone’s guess.

On Wednesday, Tyler Herro led the Heat by erupting for 38 points. That included 8-of-8 shooting in the first half. He finished 13-of-19 from the field and 9-of-10 on free throws.

Former Cavs No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins played an excellent game, particularly defensively, and scored 20 points. Bam Adebayo added 15. Davion Mitchell also had 15 on 5-of-5 from the field.

The Hawks lost on the road to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, giving the Magic the No. 7 seed and a first-round matchup with the defending champion (and second-seeded) Boston Celtics.

Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson discussed the playoffs, and his team’s chances, last week.

“The talent level is obvious,” he said. “Now, do they have the belief at a championship level? Do you really believe you can beat Boston? Do you really believe you can beat Indiana? Do you really believe you can be a conference finalist?

“That’s a first step. We can only answer that when we’re faced with it. That’s probably the lingering question. As far as talent, chemistry, deep bench, we’ve got it all. So it’s really going to be the mental, to believe we can go to that next level.”