The Atlanta Hawks chose possibly the worst time to turn in their worst performance of the season against the Miami Heat. Atlanta was bull-dozed by Miami in the second-half, as the Heat cruised to a 110-86 victory in Atlanta.
Atlanta came out with good energy and led by as many as eight points halfway through the second frame. From that point on, Miami took this game by the horns and did not look back. A 15-0 run in about two and half minutes of action, knocked the young Atlanta team off the rails. The Hawks scored a combined 35 points in the second and third quarter alone compared to 55 points from Miami. The Hawks were shooting 33% overall from the field at points all the way into the third quarter.
Jimmy Butler led the way for both sides with his double-double effort, finishing with a game-high 36 points and 10 rebounds. Butler also spearheaded the Heat defense as they stifled any hope of Hawks’ offense.
Kyle Lowry was out for Miami, but they got a solid performance from back-up point guard, Gabe Vincent. Vincent turned in 11 points and 4 assists in 27 minutes of action. To be noted, Victor Oladipo made his series-debut on Sunday. Oladipo played 23 minutes off the bench, and finished with a 6-4-8 stat-line.
There is not much to say about the Hawks performance, other than it was bad. One would assume the team would be in complete agreement as well.
The Hawks were out-rebounded, out-assisted, turned the ball over more than Miamia and shot an embarrassing 55% from the free-throw line. Truly, the only bright spots were De’Andre Hunter starting the game on fire with 11 first quarter points, and Kevin Knox hitting four three’s in four minutes during garbage time.
Trae Young had another ineffective and forgettable performance. Young had 9 points and 5 assists in 36 minutes. Not exactly the stat-line one would expect from the presumptive All-NBA guard. He was hobbled in the first-half when it looked like he stepped on Vincent’s foot. Young continued to play and was not taken out of the game.
Game 4 also marked the return of Clint Capela, but he did not have much an impact, playing only 21 minutes on his way to 2 points and 7 rebounds. Hawks’ sharpshooters, Kevin Huerter, Danilo Gallinari and Bogdon Bogdanovic, finished with a combined 17 points. The trio shot 6-of-22 from the field overall and went 1-of-12 from beyond the arc.
De’Andre Hunter finished with a team-high 24 points.
Miami seems to have the book on how to play this Hawks team and it has led them to a 3-1 series lead. The series now shifts back to Miami as the Heat have the Hawks on the ropes.
Atlanta faces the daunting task of coming back from a 3-1 deficit. Although not impossible, Atlanta will have to play near-perfect basketball to have any shot of contending with the top-ranked Heat. Game 5 is live from Miami’s BTX Arena on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. eastern.
