Hawks fall to short-handed Heat for fifth consecutive loss
The Hawks’ defensive lapses continued despite facing a short-handed Heat squad. They battled back late in the third quarter, but a Heat surge to begin the final quarter ultimately downed the Hawks 126-111 on Friday night.
Carelessness with the ball didn’t help the Hawks. They gave away 21 turnovers to the Heat, which led to 22 points on the following possessions.
“I mean, you just said it’s kind of impossible to dig yourself out of a hole that deep, and we put ourselves in that, and we all turned the ball over tonight,” Hawks guard Trae Young said. “So it’s on all of us. So not just one person. We gotta all be better taking care of the ball. But it’s more than offense; it’s more defense. So we just got to make sure they only get one shot at the rim.”
Quick stats: Trae Young had 30 points and seven assists. Jalen Johnson had 24 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
Heat’s Norm Powell (25) and Pelle Larsson (21) combined for 46 of Miami’s points in the absence of Tyler Herro (right big toe; contusion) and Bam Adebayo (lower back; soreness).
Turning point
The Hawks had cut their deficit to just 79-78 after a 3 from Trae Young with 3:07 to play in the third quarter. But then they allowed seven unanswered points from the Heat on a layup from Andrew Wiggins, a pair of free throws from Dru Smith and a 3 from Kasparas Jakucionis.
Though the Hawks got the game within six points by the end of the third quarter, they couldn’t take care of the ball and struggled to get a stop.
The Heat ended up scoring 21 points in a little under six minutes while holding the Hawks to just 12 points in the same span.
Highlight play
Hawks wing Vit Krejci has had a career year after a rocky exhibition season. The 25-year-old has shot the ball the best he has in his career, making 47.7% of his 3s entering the night’s game against the Heat.
On Friday, Krejci went 3-of-7 from 3. With his third triple of the night, he made his 72nd 3 off the bench this season. He ties Timberwolves forward Naz Reid for the most 3s from a reserve this season.
What was said
“I mean, can’t nobody grow overnight. So that’s part of it. This league is built by tall teams and tall guys, some teams have two seven-footers, and they put them out there at the same time. So for us, we got to battle.” -- Young on how the Hawks bridge the rebounding gap.
“Got to be a little more solid, valuing the ball more.” -- Nickeil Alexander-Walker on the Hawks’ turnovers.
“With Trae coming back, and we’re searching a little bit on how to try to figure out what combinations (work). We felt like Keaton (Wallace) could give his ability to defend the ball with the team that drives.” -- Quin Snyder on why the Hawks did not play Luke Kennard.
Up next
The Hawks play the second of back-to-back games when they host the Knicks, who have won eight of their last 10 games entering Saturday’s matchup at State Farm Arena.
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