Hawks Face Miami Heat at Home Tonight in High-Stakes Play-In Showdown

The stage is set for a high-octane Eastern Conference showdown as the Atlanta Hawks host the Miami Heat tonight in the final game of the 2025 SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament. This matchup not only marks a rematch of their 2023 Play-In clash—where Atlanta, then the No. 8 seed, stunned Miami on the road 116-105—but also serves as a winner-take-all opportunity to advance to the NBA Playoffs. The victor will earn the right to challenge the No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

Atlanta enters the contest as the No. 8 seed once again, having posted a 40-42 record during the 2024-25 regular season—a four-win improvement from last year. The Hawks made history as a team by dishing out 29.6 assists per game, the highest average in franchise history and surpassing a mark that stood since the 1960-61 St. Louis Hawks era.

At the heart of Atlanta’s offensive brilliance is Trae Young. The four-time All-Star led the entire NBA in both total assists (880) and assists per game (11.6), becoming the first player in franchise history to claim the league’s top spot in assists per game. Young’s dazzling campaign included averages of 24.2 points, 11.6 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 76 starts. He joins an elite club—Oscar Robertson, Tiny Archibald, and James Harden—as just the fourth player in league history to average at least 24 points and 11 assists over a full season. Young also finished with 164 more assists than the next closest player, Nikola Jokic, marking the largest assist gap since Steve Nash’s 2004-05 season.

Defensively, the Hawks have found a revelation in second-year guard Dyson Daniels—now known around the league as “The Great Barrier Thief.” Daniels completed a breakout campaign with 14.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and a staggering 3.01 steals per game. His 229 total steals are the most by any NBA player since 1995-96 (Gary Payton, 231), and he finished the season with 284 combined steals and blocks—becoming the first guard to lead the NBA in total stocks since Michael Jordan in 1987-88. Daniels’ year-over-year leap is historic, joining the likes of Magic Johnson, Michael Ray Richardson, and Alvin Robertson in the rare club of players averaging at least 14/5/4/3 in a season.

Adding to Atlanta’s momentum is rookie sensation Zaccharie Risacher. Since the start of the new year, Risacher has been remarkably efficient, averaging 14.0 points on .501/.401/.726 shooting splits. Among all NBA players (rookies or not), he’s one of just nine to maintain such elite efficiency over that stretch. Risacher’s season-long average of 12.6 points per game leads all rookies on postseason-bound teams, and his four 30-point performances—including a 38-point outburst against Brooklyn—stand as the most by any rookie this year. His back-to-back Rookie of the Month awards (February and March) only further cemented his status as a rising star.

With home-court advantage and a playoff berth at stake, the Hawks will look to feed off the energy at State Farm Arena. They’ll lean on their record-setting playmaker, a defensive juggernaut in Daniels, and the poised scoring punch of Risacher. Tip-off is set for 7:00, and all eyes are on Atlanta tonight—one game stands between the Hawks and a ticket to Cleveland.