It’s hard to trust the Hawks. They ambushed the Heat early in Tuesday’s game, but I was wondering if they’d keep it up at winning time. The Hawks so often play well early before abandoning what was working. And this was a Miami team that pushed them around in last year’s playoffs.
The Hawks came out playing fast against the Heat. Would they slow it down when the game inevitably got tight? Trae Young showed in the first half why he’s the best playmaker in the world. Would Young make the wrong plays once Miami’s defense tightened?
The Hawks were allowing nothing easy around the basket and dominating the Heat on the boards. Could the Hawks keep that up when the Heat broke out of their slumber and made some shots? Would they wilt once the home fans got into it at one of the NBA’s loudest arenas?
The Heat, as expected, made the Hawks answer those questions a few times in the second half of the play-in game. The visitors were up for the challenge every time. The Hawks beat the Heat 116-105 on their floor to earn a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs for the third straight year.
The Hawks will begin their best-of-seven series against the second-seeded Celtics on Saturday in Boston. They’ll have no chance if they are inconsistent like they’ve been all season. I believe Boston will win the series even if what we saw in Miami means the Hawks have found their footing. At least they’d be a tough out.
The Heat, favored by 5 ½ points, found out the Hawks aren’t pushovers. The Heat hang their hat on toughness and determination. The Hawks couldn’t handle that while losing last year’s playoff series in five games. They were up for the fight on Tuesday. The Hawks were more physical and focused from the start, then never let up when Miami tried to rally.
Miami’s only lead of the game was at 2-0. The Hawks led by 24 points in the second quarter. The advantage was down to five points in the third quarter and seven points with five minutes left. The Hawks kept scrapping until they’d left Miami with an impressive victory.
It was just one game. The Hawks have a habit of following good efforts with bad ones. But credit them for taking it to the Heat early and never relenting. The Heat don’t often get bullied in their building, especially when the stakes are high, and the Hawks did it.
Young was the catalyst with 25 points and seven assists. He had lots of help. Clint Capela had 21 rebounds, two blocks and several more altered shots. The four Hawks reserves who played combined to score 53 points on 43 shots.
The Hawks can score against good defensive teams. The problem has been matching it with good defense. Getting stops wasn’t an issue against the Heat. Kyle Lowry scored 33 points off the bench and Tyler Herro had 26 points. That didn’t hurt the Hawks because they controlled Heat stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Adebayo gets his points by barging his way to his favored spots. The Hawks wouldn’t let him. Adebayo finished with 12 points. Butler also couldn’t muscle his way for scores, like usual. He needed 19 shots to get 21 points and missed a handful of tries at the basket while under pressure from Hawks defenders.
In the first half, the Hawks played their best stretch of offensive basketball in weeks. The Heat are an excellent defensive team. The visitors made them look inept while building a 63-42 lead. The Hawks were quick and confident. The Heat were sluggish and confused.
Miami especially didn’t know what to do with Young. This was a big change from the last time the teams met in the postseason. The Heat made Young miserable in last year’s playoff series. He didn’t help matters by holding the ball and going on-on-one.
This time, Young played with more quickness and confidence. Help defenders couldn’t get to Young before he zipped through creases or whipped passes to teammates at the right moment . Young was bending the defense, creating space and making the Hawks hard to guard.
The Hawks built a 45-30 lead with assists on 14 of 17 baskets. Young had six of those assists. He set up several other scores by keeping the ball moving. The Hawks led 63-39 with less than three minutes until halftime. At that point they were 7 of 7 at the rim with five fouls drawn, per Cleaning the Glass.
Miami isn’t a good scoring team, but the Heat’s offense had shown some spark late in the season. They were efficient against the Pistons (twice), Knicks, Nets, Mavs and Sixers. All those teams except the Sixers are average or worse defensively. The Hawks fit in that category, too, but they smothered the Heat with Capela and Onyeka Okongwu (four blocks) as effective backstops.
The Heat came out of halftime with a plan to attack the Hawks. Herro, Miami’s 6-foot-5 wing, would go at Young off the dribble. He scored three straight baskets over Young to make Miami’s deficit 67-56. The home fans started making noise because they finally had something to cheer.
Hawks coach Quin Snyder called a timeout. He called another timeout when Max Strus made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six points. The Heat got within five points twice in the third period, but no closer. The Hawks pushed their lead back to 15 points with second-year wing Jalen Johnson making things happen.
Lowry’s shot-making prevented the Hawks from blowing the game open in the fourth quarter. The Hawks maintained a lead of three possessions or better over the final 6:47. It wasn’t Young making the plays. The Hawks closed out the Heat with big scores and assists from Dejounte Murray, Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic and John Collins.
This was the Hawks at their best. They played that way from the start. It was hard to trust them to finish the same way, but they did it. Now the Hawks are headed back to the playoffs.
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