Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Surge, Fall Short In Atlanta

1. The Hawks were up by 11 points with four minutes to play after a Kevin Huerter three, and then it happened. A 14-4 run that got the HEAT all the way within one point in the final minute. Miami looked poised to steal a game in which they hadn’t played all that well, an in a huge moment they got a wide open lob for Jimmy Butler that would have put them up one with 22 seconds left. Miami still had an opportunity from there after Trae Young missed a free-throw, but a Butler three right before the buzzer was the last chance. Just as in the last Hawks matchup, Miami built plenty of momentum in the final minutes as the Hawks struggled to execute. This time, the shots just weren’t there.

Credit Atlanta for playing a good game – their 26 assists on 38 shots were reflective of an offense that wasn’t settling for the first shot Miami surrendered – but also credit Duncan Robinson (19 points, 5-of-10 from three) for his four threes in the final period keying the HEAT surge. Robinson started the season in a slump, and hasn’t been closing very many games, but he made the most of his opportunity tonight and were it not for his three with 55 seconds to play (making it a one-point game) this one ends a few minutes earlier.

2. At the end of the first quarter, the Hawks had 31 points on 72 percent shooting and yet it didn’t appear as thought the HEAT played particularly poor defense. The switching, as it has since Bam Adebayo’s (21 points on 13 shots) return, looked as good as it’ll need to be in a few months. Atlanta’s offense was just that good at moving the ball around to the weak spots in the scheme.

The same could not be said of the second quarter, or any after. The difference in that first stretch was that P.J. Tucker was available to play, and they were the only eight minutes he would play tonight, headed to the locker room with left knee irritation. Tucker’s numbers might not always jump off the page – though he is having a career renaissance of sorts from an efficiency standpoint – but he’s easily one of Miami’s most important players. The tandem of him and Adebayo defensively is the core of everything the HEAT want to do, and without him there were just too many holes in the defense as Atlanta finished with an Offensive Rating of 118.5. At least until Erik Spoelstra went to his gambit, doubling Trae Young (28 points on 15 shots) down the stretch in a move that created just enough turnovers for the HEAT to mount their late run.

3. Miami was down nine at the half and could have easily been down 20 or more if not for the fact that they were winning just about every 50-50 ball and every margin play. They took five more shots than Atlanta in the half – 17 more for the game – despite having eight turnovers to the Hawks’ four, consistently finding offense from cutting, crashing the glass, drawing fouls and being first to loose balls. There were two plays in that half where Miami was on the precipice of committing another turnover, and would have had a Hawks player gone to the floor for the ball, but Miami recovered possession and found a way to score in the random situation that they so often thrive in. 

It also helped that Gabe Vincent and Max Strus combined for 26 points in the half, on 6-of-12 shooting from three (starting 5-of-6), but this was a great example of how the HEAT keep themselves in games even when their offense isn’t flowing particularly well.