NBA Play-In Tournament Odds & Betting Lines – Hawks vs Magic, Heat vs Bulls
By Sascha Paruk in NBA Basketball
Published:
- The 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament is set in the East while the West is coming down to the final hours of the regular season
- The Magic are sizable favorites over the Hawks to get the #7 seed in the Eastern Conference
- Below, see the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament odds and matchups as they’re posted
The 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament will start with the 7-vs-8 games in both the East and West on Tuesday, April 15, with the winners claiming the #7 seed in each conference. The 9-vs-10 games follow on Wednesday, April 16, with the winners face the losers of Tuesday’s games for the eighth and final berth in the postseason. With the final day of the NBA regular season in the books, the Play-In Tournament matchups are cemented in the East, and nearly cemented in the West. The table below will list the opening odds for all four matchups on the board as they become available.
NBA Play-In Tournament Odds
The #7 seed in the East will have the unenviable task of facing the defending-champion #2 Boston Celtics in a best-of-seven first-round series. The #8 seed will play the #1 Cleveland Cavaliers. In the West, the #7 seed will have by far the easiest draw of all the potential play-in teams, drawing the #2 Houston Rockets. The #8 seed in the West will face the #1 OKC Thunder, who finished with the best record in the league during the regular season.
The totals for the play-in games have all dropped since they first opened. Most notably, Mavericks vs Kings fell from 224.5 points all the way to 215.5. Heat vs Bulls fell from 224.5 to 219, while Hawks vs Magic came down 2.5 points from 219.5 to 217.
Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors (+1400) have the best NBA Championship odds of the teams that could wind up in the Play-In Tournament, followed closely by Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets (+1600).
Hawks vs Magic Spread, Moneyline & Total
The Orlando Magic (41-40, 22-19 home, 40-40-1 ATS) have opened as five-point home favorites over the Atlanta Hawks (39-42, 19-22 away, 40-41 ATS) in the 7-vs-8 matchup in the East. Orlando’s -205 moneyline price gives the Magic a 67.21% implied win probability. Atlanta’s +170 ML odds equal a 37.04 implied win probability.
This game will be almost the biggest contrast in styles the NBA has to offer: the Hawks are third in the NBA in pace (103.46) while the Magic play at literally the slowest tempo in the entire association (96.48).
Orlando was one of the teams worst hit by the injury bug this season. Leading scorer Paolo Banchero (25.9 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 4.8 APG) was limited to 46 games while second-leading scorer Franz Wager (24.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 4.7 APG) played 60. On top of that, point guard Jalen Suggs (16.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.7 APG) and forward Mo Wagner (12.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG) were lost to season-ending injuries after playing just 30 and 35 games, respectively.
The good news for head coach Jamahl Mosley is that both Banchero and Franz Wagner should be good to go for the Play-In Tournament. Both sat out Orlando’s final two games of the regular season with “knee” injuries, but that was more for rest/as a precaution than it was for actual ailments.
Excluding their meeting today – when both teams were resting the bulk of their starters – Orlando won two of three against Atlanta in the regular season; the Hawks took the first meeting (112-106) in Orlando on Feb. 10 but the Magic returned the favor with a 114-108 win in ATL ten days later. In their most-recent meeting, Orlando won 119-112 at home on April 8, led by a game-high 33 points and 10 rebounds from Banchero.
Heat vs Bulls Spread, Game Total & Moneyline Odds
In the 9-vs-10 matchup in the East, the Chicago Bulls (38-43, 18-23 home, 42-37-2 ATS) are listed as one-point home favorites over the Miami Heat (37-44, 17-23 away, 38-42-1 ATS). The game is a near-pick’em on the moneyline with Chicago at -115 (53.49% implied win probability) and Miami a slight -105 road underdog (51.22%).
The Bulls went 3-0 against the Heat in the regular season, winning 133-124 at home on Feb. 4, 114-109 away on March 8, and most-recently 119-111 at home on April 9. Josh Giddey (14.6 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 7.2 APG) led Chicago in scoring in all three wins. Importantly, all three victories came after Bulls leading scorer Zach Lavine was traded to Sacramento. The latter two came after Miami traded Jimmy Butler to the Warriors for Andrew Wiggins (19.0 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.3 APG), Kyle Anderson (6.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.5 APG), and a first-round pick.
This is a game where I expect a decent amount of line movement prior to tip-off. The Bulls regular-season success against Miami won’t be lost on the public, who tend to love home favorites in the NBA public betting splits. If you want to bet Chicago, do it sooner rather than later. If you’re backing the Heat, you’re likely to get a better number closer to tip-off.
Managing Editor
Sascha has been working in the sports-betting industry since 2014, and quickly paired his strong writing skills with a burgeoning knowledge of probability and statistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.
