MIAMI – As the Miami Heat believed they were close to turning their season around, Wednesday night was a step in the right direction as the team beat the Atlanta Hawks, 131-109. With the Heat looking to capitalize off their home-heavy part of the schedule, it resulted in one of the best offensive games of the season.
All of the starting lineup scored in double-digits as Tyler Herro (10 assists) and Duncan Robinson both led the way with 24 points along with Bam Adebayo and Davion Mitchell who had 20. Plus, Andrew Wiggins had 15 and the rookie Kel’el Ware had 12 points to go with eight rebounds.
Here are three takeaways from Miami’s victory over the Hawks:
Heat and Hawks were in a dogfight in the first half
While the Heat lost to the Hawks on a frustrating night last Monday, the team came off much better to start Wednesday’s game as they finished the first period making 11 of their 18 attempts from the field while hitting on four of eight shots from deep. Wiggins would start with Miami’s first six points while Herro got going by making his first two three-pointers after missing all nine of them last game.
However, the group would have six turnovers as Atlanta shot 11 of 20 from the field and four of seven from deep, even with Trae Young only shooting two points in the period. When it came to the second quarter, Miami scored 36 points which would usually indicate that they would take a commanding lead and while they built up an 11-point advantage, it was once again dwindled as the Hawks scored 37.
The Heat have blown several double-digit leads recently which has plagued them the last few weeks, but Wednesday’s came early continuing the dogfight from the first period. Still, there has been a constant question regarding the team’s rotations which saw a change against the Hawks as Haywood Highsmith made his return to the floor as it was the first time since Feb. 12 in the loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Herro would lead the way with 17 points as the Heat’s three-point champion started three of three from deep after missing all nine attempts last game. Robinson and Wiggins also contributed in the first half with 14 and 11 points respectively.
Heat stay true to their identity in the second half
While it would be more of the same to start the third quarter, Miami ended the frame on a strong note as the Hawks looked to run out of gas from the consistent offense up until that point. With The Heat’s last loss to the Hawks displayed a dreadful offensive performance leading to 86 total points, the second-lowest this season, the team passed that well into the third quarter and continued the production going into the fourth.
The only concerning part was Miami going into the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead, which they have been very prone to lose as they are the second-most team in the NBA to give up that much of an advantage. However, the home team wouldn’t let the foot off the gas as they built up their lead to 18 points as the newcomer in Mitchell made five three-pointers up until that point, tying a career-high.
Miami did what every fan wanted to see them do, which was close out a game while entering the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead.
Heat makes the first step in righting their wrongs
As the Heat have suffered late-game collapses after having double-digit leads heading into the final frame, that wasn’t the case this time Wednesday night. Miami was up 107-93 and while other fanbases would feel good with the score, it’s a different situation with this team.
However, the team would keep the Hawks down to Earth as they scored 16 points compared to the Heat’s 24 as they started the homestand with a victory. Head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke before the game about how it was being looked at by the team which was very “intentional.”
“In the list of issues that we have, at least that’s, we’re dealing with, ‘How do we keep a lead?’ And obviously, this is something that you know, we’re trying to figure out, and none of it is an excuse,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve had moving pieces, and so sometimes it takes time, and sometimes it doesn’t happen exactly how you want it to go. But I really commend the group, very intentional about it. We’re all owning it. We all have to be better for each other, and we’re working at it.”
While it was a much-needed win, the team needs to build off that and keep stacking wins as they are now 27-30 which puts them eighth in the Eastern Conference.
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