Hawks-Heat, Lakers-Timberwolves to tip off NBA play-in tournament

MIAMI, April 11 (UPI) -- Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat will host the Atlanta Hawks to launch the NBA play-in tournament Tuesday in Miami. Eight teams will play in the six-game tournament to determine the final four teams for the playoffs.

The Heat (44-38) and Hawks (41-41) will tip off at 7:30 p.m. EDT at the Kaseya Center. The game will air on TNT.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers (43-39) will host the Minnesota Timberwolves (42-40) in another play-in game at 10 p.m. Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. That game will air on ESPN.

Four teams from the Eastern Conference and another four from the Western Conference clinched spots in the tournament. The teams with the seventh-highest through 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference will participate.

Play-in tournament games will air Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday on TNT and ESPN.

"We have to go back to the film room and understand what got us here," Hawks guard Trae Young told reporters Sunday, when asked about facing the Heat. "We have to continue to be consistent with what is going good and what we are doing right."

The Nos. 7 and 8 seeds from each conference each will get two chances to win one game to earn a playoff spot. The Nos. 9 and 10 seeds must win two tournament games to make the playoffs.

The winner of the Eastern Conference game between the No. 7 Heat and No. 8 Hawks will advance to the playoffs.

The No. 10 Chicago Bulls (40-42) will meet the No. 9 Toronto Raptors (41-41) in another play-in game Wednesday in Toronto. The loser of that matchup will be eliminated.

The winner will meet the Heat or Hawks on Friday for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

In the Western Conference, the winner of the game between the No. 7 Lakers and No. 8 Timberwolves will advance to the playoffs.

The No. 9 New Orleans Pelicans (42-40) will play the No. 10 Oklahoma City Thunder (40-42) in another play-in game Wednesday in New Orleans. The winner will face the Lakers or Timberwolves on Friday for the last Western Conference playoff spot.

The winners of the Nos. 7/8 games will secure the No. 7 seeds and face their conference's No. 2 seeds in the first round of the playoffs. The teams that win two play-in games will earn No. 8 seeds and face their conference's top seeds to start the playoffs.

"It's different than the postseason, when you have multiple days to prepare for a team," Lakers forward LeBron James told reporters. "But with this, you literally have one day to prepare and a half-day on game day. For us, it's just good that we don't have to travel.

"But we shouldn't be comfortable. We gotta stay on edge and get ready for the game."

The NBA playoffs will start Saturday. The No. 1 Denver Nuggets (53-29) and No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies (51-31) are the top seeds in the West. The No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks (58-24) and No. 2 Boston Celtics (57-25) lead the East.

NBA play-in schedule

All times EDT

Tuesday

Hawks at Heat at 7:30 p.m. on TNT

Timberwolves at Lakers at 10 p.m. on TNT

Wednesday

Bulls at Raptors at 7 p.m. on ESPN

Thunder at Pelicans at 9:30 p.m. on EPSN

Friday

Bulls or Raptors at Hawks or Heat at TBD on TNT

Thunder or Pelicans at Lakers or Timberwolves at TBD on ESPN