HAWKS 81, HEAT 71: Road work regains home-court edge

MIAMI —- Someone forgot to tell Zaza Pachulia that the Hawks were finished.

Josh Smith, Mo Evans and Mike Bibby, too.

Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson and sixth man Flip Murray didn’t get the memo either.

The Hawks dragged themselves back into AmericanAirlines Arena after back-to-back losses to the Miami Heat and evened their first-round playoff series with a gritty 81-71 win before a sellout crowd of 19,600 Monday night.

Deadlocked at 2-2, the series shifts back to Atlanta for Wednesday’s Game 5 at Philips Arena.

After getting their doors blown off Saturday in Game 3, the Hawks bowed up and outscrapped the Heat behind the rugged inside work of Pachulia, black eye and all, who was relentless off the bench with 12 points and a playoff career-high 18 rebounds.

The Hawks had to survive their four-minute first half meltdown to snap the franchise’s 12-game playoff road losing streak. Their last road win in the postseason came on May 8, 1997, over Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.

They got their latest over Dwyane Wade’s Heat by keeping the clamps on Wade, who struggled through a 9-for-26 shooting performance from the floor.

Wade and the Heat slashed the Hawks’ 21-point lead to just four points, 46-42, at halftime. Heat swingman James Jones drove the Heat during the rally with back-to-back four-point plays.

But the Hawks withstood that and every other run the Heat made, grinding out possession after possession on both ends of the floor to win on a night when the Heat didn’t take them apart with 3-pointers.

The Heat had made a combined 27 from long distance to win Games 2 and 3, taking control of the series after being blown out by 26 points in Game 1 in Atlanta.

But the Heat shot just 4-for-16 from that range Monday and just .377 from the floor as the Hawks turned up their defensive pressure on Wade and everyone else in a white jersey.

Perhaps the inspired performances from Pachulia and everyone else had something to do with a players-only team meeting that was held after Monday shootaround practice.

Smith and Evans had 10 points each at halftime to help Pachulia stake the Hawks to the early lead. Smith finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks.

Bibby finished with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting, and Johnson, struggling with a leg injury throughout the second half, hobbled his way to 13 points and five assists. Murray added 11 points, five rebounds and two assists off the bench.

The Hawks pounded the Heat inside, outscoring them 34-22 in the paint while outrebounding them 40-33. And that was without starting center Al Horford for most of the night. His foul trouble opened the door for Pachulia.

The backup center has become a bit of a playoff icon for the Hawks with Monday’s performance and last year’s nose-to-nose faceoff with Celtics star Kevin Garnett in the Hawks’ Game 4 win of that Boston series.

The effort helped the Hawks snatch home court advantage back. They’ll play Games 5 and 7, if necessary, in Atlanta.

Hot and cold

A look at Dwyane Wade’s performances in the first four games of the series:

Gm. ….FG….3-pt. ..Pts. ..Result

1……8-21….1-6 ….19….L, 90-64

2 ….11-20….6-10….33….W, 108-93

3 ….10-21….4-8 ….29….W, 107-78

4……9-26….1-8 ….22….L, 81-71

Hawks schedule

Series tied 2-2

Game 1: Hawks 90, Heat 64

Game 2: Heat 108, Hawks 93

Game 3: Heat 107, Hawks 78

Monday: Hawks 81, Heat 71

Wednesday: at Atlanta, 8 p.m., TNT, FSSO

Friday: at Miami, TBA, FSSO

Sunday*: at Atlanta, TBA, FSSO

*If necessary