Atlanta held on to claim a 110-108 victory over the visiting Miami Heat on Friday night. Much like a week ago against Miami, Atlanta controlled this game till the final moments of the fourth quarter. The Heat put together another furious rally to make it a one-point game with under a minute left. Thankfully, Atlanta was able to hold on for the narrow victory over their division rivals.
The big play everyone was talking about postgame was the Jimmy Butler missed lay-up with 22.8 seconds remaining. That would have given Miami their first lead since the opening frame. Butler caught a beautiful pass from his teammate, Bam Adebayo, on a back door screen to get wide open. Butler never seemed to time his jump correctly, and the shot went begging off the backboard. Atlanta controlled the rebound and Trae Young split a pair of free throws to put the Hawks up for good.
“They did a good job of executing, the ball was right there for Jimmy and we didn’t do a good job of communicating,” said Hawks Coach Nate McMillan. “They hit us with that back screen a few times and were able to score on that play.”
“He just had a good look, thankfully he missed it. Sometimes that’s just how it happens,” added Young.
Adebayo finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, in his first game against the Hawks this season. He was out due to injury for both games against Atlanta last week. Butler ended the game with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, plus the huge missed lay-up in the fourth quarter.
Besides the frantic end to the game, Atlanta was firmly in control of this one up until those final moments. The energy on both sides of the ball was undeniable. On offense, the ball was moving around, side-to-side, and finding the open man. On defense, players were fighting over screens and taking pride within their one-on-one matchups.
Miami was trapping Young at half-court the entire game, who still finished with 28 points and 7 assists. Young did however finish with 8 turnovers as well. Kevin Huerter was the benefactor of Young being trapped, resulting in wide-open looks for the sharpshooter. Huerter finished the game with 21 points and hit five three-pointers on 56% shooting.
“They were trapping Trae all game, they were switching 1-5 a lot of it, trapping, sending guys as the clock is winding down,” said Huerter. “It’s our job in the backside to be aggressive…I was on the receiving end of a lot of open looks.”
Atlanta has now won three straight, as they try to climb back in the Eastern Conference standings. They are still 12th in the East, but now only two games back of the play-in.
Their next task is heading to Charlotte to take on the Hornets Sunday night. If Atlanta can get past Charlotte, the Hawks have another five-game home stand to follow. This is a big divisional and conference opponent. The Hawks would be wise to take advantage and gain a game on the conference and the Hornets, respectively. Tip-off for this one is at 7:00pm Eastern from the Spectrum Center.
