NBA PLAYOFFS GAME 3: HEAT 107, HAWKS 78: Blocked, beaten, bewildered

Miami —- The Hawks might as well take their scouting report —- particularly whatever it says about Dwyane Wade —- and burn it.

Whatever plan they had to deal with the Miami Heat superstar has gone up in smoke after three games in the first-round playoff series.

Wade led the Heat to a second straight win over the Hawks on Saturday, this time a 107-78 shredding before a sellout crowd of 19,600 at American Airlines Arena.

The Heat leads the series 2-1 with a chance to shove the Hawks one step closer to summer vacation Monday, with Game 4 up next here.

If the Hawks can’t come up with a better plan for slowing down Wade, it’ll be a painful end to what was once a promising season.

The NBA scoring champ led the Heat with 29 points, eight assists and four blocks, and also had seven rebounds.

The Heat piled up a franchise-record 12 blocks, sending the message early that, whatever the Hawks thought might come easy after their Games 1 blowout of the Heat, was not to be.

After a Wade-led 3-point barrage (15-for-26) buried the Hawks in Wednesday’s Game 2 loss, the Hawks insisted there was no way the Heat would shoot that well again.

Wade and the Heat made a mockery of that theory, shredding the Hawks for another 12 3-pointers in Game 3.

Most of those came on Wade kick-outs for wide-open shots as the Hawks’ scrambled to try to close off his lanes to the basket.

News that the Hawks would have to play without starting small forward Marvin Williams didn’t help their cause. Williams injured his right wrist late in Game 2 and was replaced in the starting lineup Saturday by Mo Evans.

It would have taken more than another starter, though, to counteract the Heat’s masterful performance. With Wade leading the way, players up and down the Heat roster worked the Hawks over inside and out.

While the Heat shared the glory, all five Miami starters scored in double figures, the Hawks shared the misery of a group effort that has to rank as one of their worst of the season away from Philips Arena.

And that’s saying something, considering the Hawks’ woeful 16-26 showing away from home during the regular season.

For the third straight game, Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson played like anything but one of the league’s best players.

Johnson managed 10 points on 5-for-17 shooting and had five turnovers and just three assists. Johnson hasn’t scored more than 15 points in any of the three games in the series.

Josh Smith, the Hawks’ leading scorer and rebounder in this series, didn’t fare much better. He tied Mike Bibby and Al Horford for the team-high scoring honors with 13 points, but he made just four of his 17 shots from the floor to go along with eight rebounds.

The Hawks shot just .367 (29-for-83) from the floor and just .357 (5-for-14) from beyond the 3-point line. Neither showing was anywhere close to adequate against a Heat team that made shots at a tremendous clip for a second straight game.

THE FIRST ROUND

Heat lead series 2-1

Game 1: Hawks 90, Heat 64

Game 2: Heat 108, Hawks 93

Game 4 at Miami: 8 p.m. Monday; TNT, FSSO

Game 5 at Atlanta: TBA Wednesday; FSSO

Game 6 at Miami*: TBA May 1; FSSO

Game 7 at Atlanta*: TBA May 3; FSSO *If necessary