DEL.ICIO.USNBA: ATLANTA HAWKS
Heat take 2-1 series lead over Hawks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Miami — The Hawks might as well take their scouting report — particularly whatever it says about Dwyane Wade — and burn it.
Because 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.
AP
Heat guard Dwyane Wade had 29 points and eight assists against the Hawks in 107-78 Game 3 win over Atlanta in Miami.
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 AmericanAirlines 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.
“If we don’t find a way to slow him and the Heat down, we’re going to keep getting our heads busted like this,” Hawks forward Josh Smith said. “We’re up against it now. And we’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and realize that we can’t get out of this mess without doing it together.”
While the Hawks have looked like a fragile bunch coming apart under the pressure of the playoff glare, the Heat is playing inspired basketball.
They collected a franchise-record 12 blocks, sending the message early that, whatever the Hawks thought might be 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 12 more 3-pointers Saturday.
“We came out and talked about hitting them first and not letting things get out of hand early like they did in Game 2,” Hawks point guard Mike Bibby said. “But we let them hit us first again. Wade started hitting some 3-pointers. [Daequan] Cook started hitting some 3-pointers. They all started hitting shots, and it was tough for us from there.”
News that the Hawks would have to play without starting small forward Marvin Williams didn’t help. Williams injured his right wrist late in Game 2 and was replaced in the starting lineup Saturday by Mo Evans.
Without him on the floor, the Hawks’ spacing on the offensive end seemed off. Still, it would have taken more the mere presence of Williams 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.
Jermaine O’Neal dominated inside with 22 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Wade and the Heat’s shooters controlled the action away from the basket.
“We can’t let Jermaine catch the ball on his sweet spot,” Smith said. “Even though he’s getting a little older, he’s still Jermaine O’Neal. You can’t disrespect him on the block because he’s still got a lot of moves down there. He and Wade got them started early, and it hurt us. It gave everyone else on the court the momentum they needed to get going.”
All five Miami starters scored in double figures. While the Heat shared the glory, 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.
“They’ve been the most aggressive team so far in the series, excluding the first game,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “We’ve got to find some momentum and get back in this series. I just thought the Heat did everything they were supposed to do, and we just didn’t answer the bell.”
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 and is laboring under the constant pressure of double teams on the perimeter and physical play at the rim.
Smith didn’t fare much better. He matched Bibby and Al Horford’s 13 points, but made just four of his 17 shots from the floor. The Hawks shot just .367 (29-for-83) from the floor and just .357 (5-for-14) from beyond the 3-point line.
Yet Bibby insists the Hawks are far from finished.
“The series is far from over,” he said. “We just have to hit shots. The ball hasn’t been going in for us. Their energy and effort is better than ours right now. We need to come out and jump on them Monday.”
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