The Athletic has live coverage of Heat vs. Bulls and Mavericks vs. Kings in the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament.
By Christian Clark, Anthony Slater, Jared Weiss, James Jackson, Darnell Mayberry and Alex Andrejev
The Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat kept their playoff hopes alive with wins in the NBA’s Play-In games Wednesday night.
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The Mavericks stormed past the Sacramento Kings 120-106 to set up a meeting with the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday in another elimination game. That winner advances to the first round, where they’ll play the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder, as the West’s No. 8 seed.
In the East, the Heat — led by Tyler Herro with 38 points — trounced the Chicago Bulls 109-90 earlier Wednesday. Miami will 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 Kings and Bulls, meanwhile, were bounced from the postseason.
Mavericks 120, Kings 106
Klay catches fire for Dallas
In July, the Mavericks acquired Klay Thompson in a sign-and-trade. He was supposed to be a complementary piece alongside Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. General manager Nico Harrison said Dallas was merely a “Klay Thompson away” from a championship.
But in February, the situation changed drastically when Harrison traded Dončić. In March, things changed some more when Irving suffered a season-ending left knee injury.
Thompson suddenly was without the two lead guards who were supposed to be feeding him open looks.
Thompson kept playing through all of that, and on Wednesday, he caught fire in the Mavericks’ win over the Kings. Thompson scored 16 of his 23 points in the second quarter. The Mavericks outscored the Kings 44-19 in the second quarter and led by as many as 26 points in an impressive road performance.
Mavericks guard Brandon Williams contributed 17 points and five assists. Williams, who started the season on a two-way contract and was listed as questionable coming into the game, provided an unlikely spark off the bench.
To reach the playoffs, all the Mavericks need to do is beat the Grizzlies.
Since the current Play-In format started, no 10-seed has ever advanced to the playoffs. Dallas and Miami can do that with wins Friday. — Christian Clark, Mavericks writer
31 = HIM 🏹 pic.twitter.com/bLtcn3KXG1
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) April 17, 2025
After disappointing end, questions loom for Kings
It was a bleak end to a debilitating season for the forever-wandering Kings franchise. The Dallas Mavericks took out a bit of their own frustration and blew the Kings out on their home floor to send Sacramento into another early offseason searching for answers.
The Kings extended their coach, Mike Brown, in July and fired him in December. It upset their star point guard, De’Aaron Fox, enough that he was traded out of town in February. The return brought Zach LaVine back as part of a package that was supposed to help them remain competitive.
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It led to 40 wins, the ninth seed and a second straight season with a home Play-In game. The Kings were destroyed in it, and questions about the roster and the leadership arose quickly. What is the future of coach Doug Christie and general manager Monte McNair? Would they run it back with LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan and expect a better result? — Anthony Slater, NBA writer
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. It 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 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 don’t look 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 they 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 they won 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 they 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 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 writer
(Photo of Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
