Zaza, Hawks zap Wade, Heat

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 crucial Game 5 at Philips Arena.

“Somebody had to step up to get us over the hump, and Zaza did that,” Johnson said. “He was the spark off the bench that we needed. He set the tone early with the hustle plays and tap outs and we fed off of that all night.”

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.

“I don’t know where it came from,” a grinning Pachulia said of the black eye he suffered at some point in Game 3. “It was burning and it was already swollen. That’s OK, it happens. I look like Rocky Balboa.”

The Hawks had to survive their own three-minute meltdown just before halftime to snap the franchise’s 12-game playoff road losing streak. Before Monday, 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 back spasms and a 9-for-26 shooting performance from the floor.

Still, the Heat slashed the Hawks’ early 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 shots from beyond the 3-point line.

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 night and just .377 from the floor as the Hawks turned up their defensive pressure on Wade and everyone else in a white jersey.

“They are not ready to go home,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “The fight is still there. We talked about it, when our backs are against the wall somebody always seems to come out and do something special. And this was huge, huge, because it’s our first road playoff win. And we did everything we were supposed to do to secure this win. And now we have to go home and handle our business.

“Zaza was huge throughout the whole game. Eighteen rebounds and 12 points, we needed all of that tonight to survive.”

Perhaps the inspired performances from Pachulia and everyone else had something to do with a players-only team meeting that was held after Monday morning’s 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 from the floor, including a crucial 3-pointer with 4:57 to play to keep the Hawks’ late lead at 10 points at 75-65.

“I figured the shot clock was running down and I had to shoot it,” Bibby said. “I’m just glad it went in.”

Johnson, struggling with a right ankle injury he tweaked twice Monday night, hobbled his way to 13 points and five assists. Murray added 11 points, five rebounds and two assists off the bench.

“This was probably the most important game of the series,” Johnson said. “There was no way we could go home down 3-1. We came out and dictated the pace we wanted the series to be played at and now we have home court advantage again and we have to take care of it this time.”

The Hawks pounded the Heat inside, outscoring them 34-22 in the paint while also outrebounding them 40-33. And that was without starting center Al Horford for most of the night. Horford’s 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 superstar Kevin Garnett in the Hawks’ Game 4 win of that series against Boston.

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

“We kept fighting,” Bibby said. “We played together. The main thing is to play together. Wade is going to get his points. He is the leading scorer in the NBA. Our main thing was to just play together on both ends of the court. I think that’s the reason we won.”