The Detroit Pistons and Golden State Warriors each won their NBA play-in openers Tuesday night, advancing directly into the postseason and pushing the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers into Friday elimination games that will close out the bracket for a first round set to begin Saturday.

In Detroit, the Pistons defeated the visiting Bulls 112-103 at Little Caesars Arena behind 31 points and nine assists from guard Cade Cunningham, earning the franchise its first postseason berth since 2019 and the right to face the Boston Celtics in a first-round series starting Saturday afternoon. In San Francisco, the Warriors held off the Lakers 118-114 at Chase Center on a late three-pointer from Stephen Curry, claiming the West’s No. 7 seed and a first-round series against the second-seeded Denver Nuggets.

The two losing clubs now drop into Friday’s loser-out games. The Bulls will travel to Miami to face the Heat, who beat the Atlanta Hawks 121-109 on Wednesday afternoon in the East’s 9-10 game. The Lakers will host the Memphis Grizzlies, who eliminated the Houston Rockets 110-104 on Wednesday night in the West’s 9-10 game. The winners of Friday’s games take the Nos. 8 seeds in their conferences.

“We did not come into this building to win one game,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in his postgame availability. “We came in to play the way we have played for two months and trust that it would carry us. Cade was a grown man tonight. The whole bench answered. That’s what this group has been.”

Cunningham, asked whether the milestone — Detroit’s first playoff appearance in seven years — had registered for him during the game’s final minutes, said it had not. “I’ll feel it tomorrow,” he said. “Tonight I want to watch film on Boston and get on a plane. The work is just starting.”

The Bulls, who had been the East’s No. 9 seed after Sunday’s regular-season finale, kept Tuesday’s game close into the fourth quarter behind 28 points from guard Coby White and a 14-point performance from rookie forward Matas Buzelis. Chicago head coach Billy Donovan said the team’s 18-point third quarter had been the difference. “We went away from what got us here,” Donovan said. “We have one more night. We’ll be ready in Miami.”

In the West’s 7-8 matchup, Curry scored 34 points and made seven three-pointers, including the go-ahead shot from the top of the key with 11.4 seconds remaining. Forward Jimmy Butler, in his first postseason action since being traded to Golden State in February, added 22 points and seven rebounds. The Lakers, who had led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, were paced by LeBron James’s 28 points and a 21-point, 11-assist game from rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis.

“You’re going to lose games where you have leads,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. “What you can’t do is lose your identity in them. I thought for stretches tonight we did. We have Friday. We get another shot.”

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called the win “an old man’s game with a young man’s pace,” and singled out reserve center Trayce Jackson-Davis, whose 11 rebounds and two late blocks helped Golden State weather a Lakers surge that closed a 13-point gap to four with under four minutes to play. “Trayce gave us the minutes we needed,” Kerr said. “That’s a series-changing kind of stretch from him.”

Wednesday’s afternoon and evening games filled in the rest of the play-in field. In Miami, the Heat overcame an early 11-point Hawks lead to win going away behind 30 points from Tyler Herro and a season-high 18 points from forward Nikola Jovic. Atlanta, which finished the regular season as the East’s 10 seed, will not advance to the postseason. Hawks head coach Quin Snyder, addressing reporters briefly after the loss, said the season had “fallen short of what we believed we could do” and declined to discuss roster questions ahead of the offseason.

In Memphis, the Grizzlies survived a 39-point performance from Houston guard Jalen Green to advance, with point guard Ja Morant returning from a one-game absence to score 27 points and dish out 12 assists. Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said Morant had pushed to play despite team physicians having recommended caution earlier in the day. “Ja made the decision he was going to make,” Jenkins said. “We supported it. He earned it.”

The play-in format, in its fifth year of use, has continued to produce closer games than first-round matchups in the regular bracket, according to figures the league released late Wednesday. The four games on Tuesday and Wednesday were decided by an average of 7.5 points; the average margin of victory in last year’s opening play-in round was 6.9 points.

“What you’re seeing is a tournament-within-a-tournament identity for these games,” said Aaron Vance, a basketball analyst at the data firm Synergy Sports, in a phone interview. “Teams play with a desperation you don’t always get in a 1-versus-8 first-round series. That’s exactly what the league wanted when it built the format.”

Health updates released by clubs Wednesday evening were mostly favorable. The Warriors said Curry, Butler and forward Draymond Green had no reported issues from Tuesday’s game. The Pistons listed Cunningham as a full participant in Wednesday’s film session and on-court walkthrough. The Lakers, however, downgraded forward Rui Hachimura to questionable for Friday’s game with a sore right knee, and Chicago said guard Lonzo Ball, who has not played in the playoffs since 2021, would be a game-time decision in Miami.

The first round of the playoffs begins Saturday in Boston and Cleveland, with West openers later in the weekend. The league office said the broadcast schedule for the full first round would be released Friday after the play-in’s final games. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, in a brief statement Wednesday, called the opening play-in slate “the kind of basketball that earns its place on the calendar.”