Add this one to the ever-growing list of bad Hawks losses this season.
The injury-depleted Heat, without two All-Stars, came into Philips Arena and handed the Hawks a 115-111 loss Friday night.
The Heat used a late fourth-quarter run to gain their final separation after the Hawks had erased an eight-point deficit in less than two minutes.
The Hawks (31-25) could not keep the momentum gained from a win headed into the All-Star break. They ended the regular-season series with the Heat trailing 3-1.
The Heat (30-24) halted a two-game losing streak and jumped ahead of the Hawks in the Eastern Conference and Southeast Division standings.
The Hawks play a second straight home game by hosting the Bucks Saturday night.
Here are the key players and five observations on the game:
Three key players
Luol Deng: The Heat forward finished with a game-high 30 points and 11 rebounds.
Josh McRoberts: The Heat center had a 19 points off the bench, including three 3-pointers
Jeff Teague: The Hawks guard had a team-high 23 points and seven assists while battling foul trouble.
Five observations
1. So close, so far
The Heat opened up an eight-point lead, 98-90, with a 6:12 remaining with a 19-9 run. The Hawks completely erased the deficit with an 8-0 run in 1:58. The tie game wouldn’t last long. The Heat got a 3-pointer from Deng that started a 12-4 run and left with another eight-point lead, 110-02, with 1:33 remaining. Game over.
2. 3-point barrage
The Hawks started very slowly from 3-point range. They were 1 of 8 after one quarter and 4 of 14 after two quarters. The Hawks then went 7 of 12 from long range in the third quarter. Kyle Korver hit three 3-pointers in the period. The second was his 700th in a Hawks uniform. Dennis Schroder hit two in the third quarter, the second at the buzzer to give the Hawks an 81-79 lead heading into the final period.
3. Hawks in foul trouble
The Hawks lost Paul Millsap to his third personal foul with 4:39 left in the second quarter. Foul trouble has plagued the power forward in recent weeks. The Heat went up by nine points, 48-39, shortly after the Millsap foul. The Hawks, with Mike Scott filling in for Millsap, ended the first half with a 13-4 run to enter intermission tied at 52. Scott started the run with an in-close basket and ended it with a 3-pointer. He finished with 10 first-half points. Millsap picked up his fourth foul with 8:33 left in the third quarter. It got worse for the Hawks when Teague picked up his fourth foul with 5:01 left in the third quarter, his second of the period.
4. Is the All-Star break over yet?
The Hawks were apparently very rusty in their return after a nine-day layoff. They had a miserable first-quarter shooting effort, starting the game 1 of 7 and then 2 of 9 from the field. After the first period, the Hawks trailed 22-19 as they shot 6 of 20 (.300) from the field and 1 of 8 (.125) from 3-point range. To make matters worse, they had six turnovers and seven fouls. The Heat were only slightly better, shooting 9 of 25 (.360) in the quarter.
5. Seriously short-handed Heat
The Heat played with just nine healthy and available players. They were without Dwyane Wade (knee), Chris Bosh (calf) and Hassan Whiteside (suspension). Wade was listed as questionable following the team’s morning shoot-around with knee soreness. He was scratched from the lineup hours before the opening tip. Wade is scheduled to get an MRI exam. Gerald Green started in place of Wade. Bosh was ruled out as he deals with a reported blood-clotting issue in his calf. Whiteside was suspended by the NBA for one game for an elbow he threw against the Spurs in the game before the All-Star break.
