A look inside the Hawks’ matchup with the Heat Tuesday night in Miami.
The facts
The Heat have won an NBA season-high 18 straight games. The Hawks were victim No. 8 in the streak with a loss at Philips Arena on Feb. 20.
The Heat have won all three games with Atlanta this season by an average of 9.3 points.
The Heat have won the past six games with the last Hawks’ win coming Jan. 2, 2011. Over the past four seasons, the Heat have won 12 of 15 games with the Hawks.
LeBron James averaged 24 points in the three games against the Hawks this season. Dwayne Wade averaged 23 points in his two contests.
Wade was named the Eastern Conference player of the week Monday. In four games he averaged 25.3 points on .606 shooting with five assists, 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 steals.
The Hawks are 13 1/2 games behind the Heat in the Southeast Division.
The Heat are the only team in the NBA to have clinched a playoff berth.
In three games against the Heat this season, Al Horford averaged 19 points and 9.3 rebounds.
Series recap
Heat 95, Hawks 89 (Nov. 9 in Atlanta): The Heat closed the game on a 10-2 run after the Hawks had taken an 87-85 lead with 3:26 remaining. Chris Bosh led the Heat with 24 points. Jeff Teague had 20 points and 11 assists for the Hawks.
Heat 101, Hawks 92 (Dec. 10 in Miami): The Heat went on a 17-4 third-quarter run to blow open a close game that until that point had included 17 lead changes. LeBron James had a game-high 27 points for the Heat. Josh Smith had 22 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Hawks.
Heat 103, Hawks 90 (Feb. 20 in Atlanta): The Hawks couldn’t hold an 11-point third-quarter lead as the Heat started the fourth period on a 13-0 run. Although LeBron James had 24 points and 11 assists, Shane Battier (17) and Ray Allen (15) came off the bench to hurt the Hawks. Horford had 27 points and Smith had 10 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
What they are saying
“Right now, honestly, it doesn’t really feel like we are on this kind of win streak,” Wade told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “We are just coming in and we’re just taking care of business. We come in every day when Coach calls us in and we do our work and we come back and we just play. We’re not in the locker room saying, ‘Aw, we’re on this win streak and it’s amazing.’ To us, we’re just playing basketball.”
“It would be very big (to win) but at this stage of the season, all wins are big for us,” Larry Drew said. “Obviously, this Miami team is playing almost flawless basketball right now. We’ve had some good battles with them thus far this season. Anytime you go on the road, in a hostile environment, any time you come out with a win, it’s big.”
About the Author
