In a star-studded affair Thursday night, the 16-41 Atlanta Hawks pulled off the upset over the 36-20 Miami Heat in a 129-124 thriller. Both teams came out shooting hot, hitting more than half their shots in the first quarter. However, several things shaped the game other than Trae Young’s 50 points and multiple 30-plus-foot three-point bombs.
Here are just a few.
Costly mistakes
Atlanta’s defense faltered in the third. At halftime, Miami lead by one. But with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter, the scoreboard read 89-78, Heat by 11. Moreover, the Hawks’ offense cooled off considerably, and they struggle to get anything going.
Turnovers were also a struggle for Atlanta. They coughed the rock up 14 times in less than three quarters. They lead the league in turnovers at 16.6 per game.
Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce alluded to this after the game in his press conference.
“We turned the ball over way too much in the second quarter,” Pierce said. “That’s something we have to work on going forward.”
But, they are a young squad and played one of the better defensive teams in the league tonight.
A second-half spark
After cutting the 11-point lead to seven (97-90), the crowd became as energetic as they have at any point this season. Capped off by a big three from Young to tie the game at 97, the Hawks were neck-and-neck with their rival.
The fourth quarter was electric.
Every time the Heat looked like they were going to pull away, the Hawks had an answer and ignited the crowd.
Jeff Teague made a pair of free throws to give Atlanta the lead at 110-109 with six and a half. Just 12 seconds later, Jimmy Butler gave the Heat the lead right back with free throws of his own to make the game 111-110.
Momentum began to shift when the Hawks took a 116-115 lead after a big three by rookie De’Andre Hunter–one of the biggest shots of his young career.
With many Heat fans in attendance (they are one of the most widespread fan bases in the country), the team fed off the crowd’s chants.
However, those chants did not bode well for the visiting team.
Behind another game-tying three from Hunter, the Hawks tied the game at 124 with just 55 seconds left in the fourth. Seconds later, fellow Hawks rookie Cam Reddish ripped the ball from Miami’s Goran Dragic and sprinted down the floor for a monstrous fastbreak dunk. Arguably the biggest sequence of the year for Reddish, it gave Atlanta a 126-124 lead with 31.4 to play.
After a few free throws later, and the game was over.
The win against a team like Miami builds is a huge confidence booster for this young Hawks team. Although Pierce is proud of the win over a playoff team, the goal is to keep their focus going forward.
“We’ll take a win over playoff team or non-playoff team. For us, it’s about building momentum,” Pierce said.
Ice Trae does his thing
Ice Trae lived up to his name as he led the Hawks with a career-high 50 points on 12-25 shooting from the field, 8-15 from three and 18-19 at the free-throw line.
It is no wonder why he was a starter in Sunday’s All-Star Game after numbers like this.
He hit shots from everywhere, broke the ankles of Andre Iguodala and put on a show for those in attendance.
Young and the Hawks look to carry the momentum into Saturday when they take on Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks at State Farm Arena. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.
