The All-Star-less Miami Heat limped into Atlanta Friday night and handily defeated the Atlanta Hawks 115-111.
The Heat only had nine men ready to play as Hassan Whiteside (suspension), Chris Bosh (blood clot) and Dwayne Wade (knee) were out of commission.
With the win, the Heat replaced the Hawks and moved into first place in the Southeastern Division, knocking out the Hawks.
Luol Deng and Josh McRoberts led the way for the Heat with 30 and 19 points, respectively, both season highs. Deng also had eleven rebounds and McRoberts had 10 assists.
“To give up 115 points and 50 percent is tough,” Hawks Head Coach Mike Budenholzer said following the game. “We got to be a lot better.”
This loss for the Hawks hits especially hard given the condition the Heat found themselves in. The Heat came to Atlanta with a piecemeal team and ran groups on the floor that had never played together as a unit.
Although some of the units Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spolestra played had never worked together during a game, the players practice together all off season and “understand each other,” he said after the game.
Understandably though, the Hawks should have had a clear advantage not only based on talent alone but in their second unit’s cohesion, matched up with the lacking nine-man Heat rotation.
Alas, those advantages were not enough: the Hawks looked tired at best and completely disjointed at worst.
The Hawks’ were really only able to keep the score close because of their success from three, the only silver lining for Atlanta. After the third quarter, they were 15-31 from three. They finished 16-36.
“We did a good job attacking the paint,” Deng said following the game. “We knew we were missing [Wade] and [Bosh] so we knew we had to come out with a lot of energy.”
Indeed they did, also taking 15 more free throws than the Hawks. However, the Hawks ended up 13-13 from the line.
"I do believe in the character of this group, but at some point it has to happen on the court," Budenholzer said. “[But that character] comes out on the court.”
