Five observations from the Hawks’ 93-90 victory over the Heat Tuesday night.
1. Dwight Howard left the game late in the third quarter with a left quad contusion and did not return. The injury happened in a collision with Hassan Whiteside along the baseline. Howard was later called for a technical foul for complaining to the referee. He went to the locker room with 3:50 remaining to receive treatment but did not return.
“Dwight took a knee to his knee area, or just above the knee,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game. “I think there’s some swelling and so we’ll be aggressive in treating him, treating him aggressive and hopefully we’ll get him ready to play tomorrow. We’ll just see how the next 24 hours go.”
Howard had 11 points and 11 rebounds when he left.
2. Whiteside was an issue for the Hawks before Howard's injury. He was more so after it. The Heat center finished with 19 points and 25 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end. The rebound total tied his career-high. Whiteside had 11 points and 13 rebounds at the time of the Howard injury. He had eight points and nine rebounds through the rest of the third and fourth quarters. He had three offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter alone.
“Obviously, he is a load on the glass,” Mike Muscala said. “We missed Dwight in that sense. I think overall we did a pretty good job of team rebounding. Especially at the end, there was a tip by Tim (Hardaway Jr.) that helped us out. Kyle (Korver) did a good job getting a body on Whiteside.”
3. Paul Millsap stepped up. After Howard left, the Hawks used Muscala and Kris Humphries on Whiteside. Millsap wanted his chance and convinced Budenholzer to give it to him.
“Whiteside is obviously a load,” Millsap said. “Dwight goes out. I think (Muscala) did a good job. Down the stretch, I pretty much had to convince coach to go let me go play the five. I told him I would go in there and do my best to get him off the glass and contain him. He trusted me.”
Millsap played the center and used his body on Whiteside. The Hawks turned to a gang-rebound mentality and it worked enough to hold on for the win.
Why did Millsap want the challenge?
“I feel like I can cause him some problems,” Millsap said. “I can get to his body, get low, keep him out of the paint. If he catches it, use my hands to disturb him. The few times he got it, I was able to deflect it.”
4. Few may remember that Dennis Schroder went 0-for-3 from the free-throw line in a win over the 76ers Saturday night. Schroder remembered. After that game, Schroder went to the practice court and shot 100 free throws and then worked on his outside shot.
Against the Heat, Schroder made a pair of free throws with 5.9 seconds left to ice the game.
“You’ve got to make those,” Schroder said. “You are up one. You are not putting pressure on yourself. You want to win so you have to make them. I just stepped up with confidence and made them.”
What about that extra work?
“It was worth it,” Schroder said.
5. If there is an issue with the Hawks early in the season, it's turnovers. The Hawks committed seven first-quarter turnovers, including five in the first eight minutes. They went to half time with only 10 turnovers. However, they ended the game with 21 turnovers that led to 20 Heat points.
Still, the Hawks found a way to win over a depleted Heat team.
“Experience,” said Kent Bazemore on the key to the game. “Finding a way to win. Like I said earlier in the year, we have a group of guys who won’t turn down a challenge. We found a way to get it done. It wasn’t the prettiest night. I think our defense was pretty good. We gave up a ton of rebounds to Whiteside and turned the ball over 21 times. That’s something we can’t do.”
