The 2026 NBA play-in tournament tipped off Tuesday night with eight teams battling for the final four playoff spots this week for a chance to keep their seasons alive.
The evening got started with a thrilling 127-126 OT victory by the Charlotte Hornets over the Miami Heat. LaMelo Ball scored the winning basket on a driving layup with 4.7 seconds left. Charlotte had to rally at the end of regulation to force OT.
Advertisement
The Hornets will now face the loser of Wednesday’s game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Orlando Magic on Friday for the No. 8 seed and a first-round matchup with the Detroit Pistons.
The Portland Trail Blazers (42-40) and Phoenix Suns (45-37) will close out the night in what could wind up as a defensive battle. Phoenix enters the matchup as slight 2.5-point favorites over Portland with a 216.5 point total, with the winner earning the No. 7 seed in the West and a first-round matchup with the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs.
Follow along with Tuesday’s NBA play-in tournament action as the Miami Heat take on the Charlotte Hornets and the Portland Trail Blazers face the Phoenix Suns:
-
Jack Baer
-
Yahoo Sports Staff
LaMelo Ball made up for his foul against Tyler Herro by driving for a layup with 4.7 seconds left for the go-ahead basket. Miami didn’t have a timeout and pushed the ball the length of the floor but Miles Bridges came up with the game-saving block.
-
Jack Baer
Tyler Herro makes a 3-pointer, LaMelo Ball gets trapped and loses the ball in the backcourt, then Herro draws a foul from Ball and gets three free throws, making them all. Holy chokejob by the Hornets.
-
Jack Baer
In the final minute of a winner-take-all game, the Prime Video stream cut out for seemingly its entire audience. Viewers missed a LaMelo Ball lay-up to put Charlotte up 125-120. The feed is back now, but that’s beyond embarrassing for Amazon.
-
Jack Baer
LaMelo Ball just summed up his night in three possessions. He misses a deep 3-pointer (now 2-of-16 from deep), loses his man on defense to let the Heat cut the deficit to 1, then hits Brandon Miller for an and-1 to ignite the crowd.
Hornets now up 5 with 1:33 left, and it’s looking dire for Miami.
-
Jack Baer
-
Jack Baer
Tyler Herro nonchalantly runs the floor and attempts a deep 3 to win it, which clanks away. We’ve got overtime.
-
Jack Baer
-
Jack Baer
Coby White steps up, making a contested turnaround 3-pointer to tie this game with 10.8 seconds left. That gives the Heat a proper chance at winning it, but what a moment for the Hornets.
-
Jack Baer
Tyler Herro, a 92% free throw shooter this season, gets the ball and burns 6 seconds off the clock before the Hornets can foul him. He makes both free throws and it’s Hornets ball, down by 3 with 12.9 seconds left.
-
Jack Baer
The Hornets wing makes a 3-pointer and it’s now Heat ball, up by 1, 18.6 seconds left.
-
Jack Baer
The Heat lead 111-108 with 28 seconds left after Grant Williams misses a would-be game-tying 3-pointer. So the Hornets have started fouling, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. getting the first hack and splitting the free throws. Four-point lead for Miami.
-
Jack Baer
-
Jack Baer
-
Jack Baer
Thye Hornets tied it, then Andrew Wiggins responded with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. That’s as many 3-pointers as Kon Knueppel (0-for-6) and LaMelo Ball (2-for-14) have all game combined.
-
Jack Baer
The Heat built up their lead to seven points, but a Ryan Kalkbrenner putback and Miles Bridges and-1 has narrowed that to two with five minutes to go.
-
Jack Baer
The Hornets built up an eight-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but a small rampage by Davion Mitchell and an and-1 from Andrew Wiggins has given Miami the lead back with 7:49 remaining.
-
Jason Owens
More bad news for the Heat. They ruled out Bam Adebayo late in the third and will have to attempt to rally without him.
-
Jason Owens
Make that four 3s for Coby White in the third quarter.
White beat the buzzer to give Charlotte an 89-83 lead heading into the fourth and is up to 16 points off the bench. He’s 4 of 5 from distance.
-
Jason Owens
Coby White hit back-to-back 3s to seize control back for the Hornets, who now lead 84-79 after a 10-0 run.
