The Hawks were too much for the injury-depleted Heat – even after losing Dwight Howard to injury.
It sure got interesting.
After a dramatic fourth quarter, the Hawks held on for a 93-90 victory Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Dennis Schroder made a pair of three throws with 5.9 seconds left to seal the win. Kent Bazemore made two free throws with 11.8 seconds remaining before a Josh Richardson dunk set up the final scoring. Dion Waiters missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer for the Heat.
The Hawks (8-2) won their fifth straight with the narrow victory. They snapped a three-game losing streak to the Heat.
The Hawks had six double-digit scorers led by Schroder with 20 points. He was followed by Paul Millsap (15), Tim Hardaway Jr. (15), Mike Muscala (14), Kent Bazemore (12) and Howard (11).
Howard left the game in the third quarter with a left quad contusion and did not return. Howard exited the game with 3:50 left in the period after picking up a technical foul for complaining about a non-call. He then went to the locker room accompanied by trainers. Shortly after, the Hawks announced his injury and status.
Howard left after getting his eighth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. He also had three steals.
Hassan Whiteside had a monster game for the Heat with his ninth double-double of 19 points and 25 rebounds. He was the reason the Heat closed on the Hawks in the fourth quarter after Howard left. The Heat were without starters Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow due to injury. The Heat (2-8) have lost five straight.
The Heat were within three points, 89-86, with 59.1 seconds left before Thabo Sefolosha rebounded a miss. The Hawks failed to get a shot off before the 24-second clock expired and Millsap had a late heave. The Heat got the ball back with 21.2 seconds left and Rodney McGruder put back a miss to make it a one-point game with 13.6 seconds remaining.
The Hawks trailed by as many as eight points in the second quarter but closed the period on a 19-5 run and took a 49-43 advantage into intermission. Howard and Schroder each had nine points and Muscala and Hardaway had eight points each in the opening half.
The Heat rallied in the third quarter and briefly re-took the lead, 61-60, with a 16-4 run. The Hawks ended the quarter on a 10-3 run, including two straight 3-pointers from Muscala, to go back on top.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer didn’t want to boil the game down to a Howard versus Whiteside matchup. However, Howard gave the Hawks a needed presence against Whiteside.
“I think he really makes a difference every night,” Budenholzer said of Howard before the game. “Whiteside is such big force on the boards, the lobs, the offensive rebounding, the shot-blocking. Having someone like Dwight can mitigate that and help us.”
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