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I Want Revenge: Game 6 in Miami
The Heat is fighting for their playoff lives and frankly, the Hawks tried to embarrass them in Atlanta. Something has to be done.
Dwyane Wade was beaten up, booed, and held down by the officials who made several questionable calls.
But he can’t do it all himself. He needs help. Michael Beasley, Daequan Cook and Mario Chalmers have to step up and score points. Neither Cook nor Chalmers have been able to defend Flip Murray – who is the real MVP of this series right now.
Jermaine O’neal battled and is quickly showing why he was a valuable asset for those tough Pacer teams. Udonis Haslem battles but his hand clearly still bothers him.
None of this matters though as the Heat need a win tomorrow night. Game 6 in Miami has to be a statement game. The Heat need to shake off the embarrassment and come out firing in front of the home crowd. Call it the Black Hole, with every Heat fan decked out in black.
With a win, the Heat can erase the painful memories of two straight losses in this series. With a win, they can erase the achievements the Hawks think they have acquired. With a win, the Heat have an even greater chance for revenge – to close out the series on Atlanta’s home court, where it all began. What greater motivation would they need at this point?
Heat Struggle, Fail to Take Command of Series
The Heat lose to the Hawks in Game 4 81-71 and fail to take advantage of the series by losing at home.
Quicklook:
- The Heat were out-rebounded 40-33 by the Hawks, including 18 from Pachulia
- Dwyane Wade struggled to get his 22 points, shooting 9/26 from the field
- The Heat shot a respectable percentage from the free throw line, .750, but it was their low field goal percentage from the field that did them in: .377 (23/61)
It was a chance to take command in the series and potentially never look back and it seems the Heat just were not up for the challenge. Coming on the heals of an impressive blowout at home, the Heat seem to not be ready for a desperate Hawks team fighting for its playoff life. The Hawks essentially regained home court advantage with the win last night, and now both teams must win 2 of the next possible 3 games. Considering that the Heat now have to take another on the road from the Hawks, the advantage has shifted back to Atlanta.
There is no consistency here. You would think a team like Miami, scoring over 100 points in two straight games, would be able to have that translate into some kind of momentum, but it seems they just weren’t able to keep things going and Atlanta countered. This is anyone’s series.
Up next, Miami will travel to Atlanta for a crucial Game 5 on Wednesday.
Heat Blowout Hawks; Take Control of Series
Heat coast to a win in Game 3 107-78 over the Hawks.
Quicklook:
- Dwyane Wade seemed to coast along tonight and scored 29 points on 10-21 shooting, 4-8 from downtown – his three point shot is not cooling off.
- Jermaine O’neal had his best performance of the series, and maybe his best as a member of the Heat, with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
- The Heat held the Hawks under 40% shooting and outrebounded them 48-35
The Heat’s homecoming did not disappoint. Building on the momentum they grabbed in Game 2, the Heat jumped out to an early 11-2 lead and never looked back. The Hawks never lead in this game and spent most of the night trailing by double digits.
So how did they do it?
With great defense and excellent rebounding.
It was clear that the Heat were sticking to a game plan of slowing the tempo down and controlling the pace of the game. Making their shots helps; the Hawks want to run the ball up and down the court and get out in transition. If the Heat make their shots, it forces the Hawks to take the ball out of the net and set up from half court. This also makes the defensive assignments much easier for the Heat.
One strategy they have employed is forcing Josh Smith to shoot the ball. His game relies on being around the basket but by crowding the paint, as the Hawks are trying to do to defend Dwyane Wade. With Smith shooting outside, the Heat are not allowing him to feed off of emotional plays like dunks and get his team’s momentum churning ahead.
Look for the Heat to continue to force the Hawks to beat them from outside and try to keep improving offensively by focusing on high percentage shots and keeping the pace slow. Next up for the Heat is Game 4 on Monday night. A win there and the Heat are in a great position almost guaranteeing them a ticket to the next round. The Heat have already taken home court advantage away from the Hawks.
The Equalizer; Heat Defeat Hawks in Game 2
The Miami Heat took Game 2 from the Atlanta Hawks 108-93.
Quicklook:
- Dwyane Wade answers his 19 point Game 1 performance with a 33 point performance in Game 2 – hitting 6/10 from three point range.
- The Heat shot 57% from three (15/26) and 55% from the field (40-72).
- Daequan Cook and Dwyane Wade become the first teammates in NBA history to hit 6 three pointers each in the playoffs.
For the Heat, this is a big win as they come back from an embarrassing loss in Game 1 to a more respectable win in Game 2. The Hawks only threatened late in the 4th, cutting the lead to 10, but never dipped into under double digits.
This was a game where Miami defended better and brought better energy. When playing on the road, you have to up your energy to exceed the home team – when the crowd starts yelling, it is hard to transcend that energy. The Heat did a better job of that tonight.
Defensively, the Heat showed some progress. They gave space to the Hawk’s bigs who rely on getting into the paint to do their damage. Josh Smith was visibly frustrated for stretches. The Heat limited the Hawks to 41 first half points, combined with the 31 of the second half of Game 1, the Heat had held the Hawks to 72 points.
The Heat also got better contributions from the rest of the team. Jermaine O’neal had a respectable night scoring 19 points and blocking 4 shots – one of which came as the Hawks were mounting a run which pushed them within 7 points (93-86). Daequan Cook had 20 points with 6/9 from three; Udonis Haslem continues to battle and put in 10 points and 7 rebounds including two huge back-to-back jumpers when Wade was out with foul trouble near the end of the 4th quarter. Beasley had 12 points and 7 rebounds off the bench and shows that he is a huge mismatch for Josh Smith.
The Heat made some adjustments but one still remains to be seen – they have to get into the painted area and draw contact. The Hawks did that successfully and were able to get 30 free throw attempts (FTAs). The Heat, meanwhile, only could muster up 18. There may have been a little home-cooking for the Hawks, but maybe coming back to Miami will help the Heat’s cause in this area.
If Dwyane Wade can get 30+ points and get to the line 10+ times, it is going to be hard for the opponent to win. He had 33 points tonight and 6 FTAs.
Great win for Miami as they take away home court and are poised to use their home court to stake control in this series.
Congrats!
Congratulations to Erik Spoelstra on getting his first ever post season win. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Here’s to the first of many more!
Hawks Defense Stifles Heat, Wade
Heat lose to Hawks in the first game of the series 88-64.
Quicklook:
- Dwyane Wade shot 8-21 with 8 turnovers and was 1-6 from three point range.
- The Heat shot .366% from the field 26/71, 4/23 from three point range.
- The Heat held the Hawks to 31 points in the 2nd half, but only scored 25 themselves
- The Heat were out-rebounded by 15 (50-35)
The Heat started off out of sync against the Hawks and it was obvious that they were just not going to match the Hawks energy. Sure, the Hawks were playing at home and they should have been a bit more turned on to start, but that is no excuse as the Heat knew they would have to meet and even exceed the Hawks’ energy tonight.
But this is only 1 game – and it’s a best of 7 series.
Let’s face it, the Hawks played their best game tonight. They were getting all the bounces and all the calls. There was a point where an airball was shot by the Hawks only to land in Joe Johnson’s hands who then just turned around and laid it up. Zaza Pachulia, not exactly the most gifted athlete in the NBA, missed his shot and had his own rebound fall into his hands. On the one hand, it just wasn’t the Heat’s night.
On the other, the Heat didn’t do a whole lot to help themselves out. There was no energy, no hustle. Everyone looked slow, confused and when they tried to turn it up, the ball just slipped out of their hands, or bounced out of bounds away from them. Wade usually gets the better of his opponents but tonight was making weak passes and poor decisions with the ball. The Heat couldn’t help Wade out either as there was very little offense coming off the bench and from the supporting cast.
As a team, the Heat didn’t get it done tonight. There is still a game to be played, however, and if the Heat can get a win on Wednesday it will be mission accomplished. They have two days to work out the kinks and get better. The Hawks have two days to ride the high from this game – that is a dangerous position to be in, too.
The Heat cannot try to compensate by shooting three point shots. A good indication of how the Heat’s chances are in this series will be by their three point attempts. The more, the less likely the Heat will win as that is a by product of the Hawks defense crowding the interior and keeping Wade out of the painted area. That is their whole game plan – crowd the paint, don’t let Wade get any space and force the Heat to be a jump shooting team. The Heat should tear the page from the Hawks’ playbook and do the same to them – crowd Bibby and Johnson and force them to shoot. Josh Smith and Al Horford were constantly getting free and cleaning up rebounds as they were not being boxed out.
Many lessons to learn for this young Heat team – back in the playoffs for the first time since 2007. They were swept in that first round series and it was due mostly to the fact that the Heat didn’t match the intensity of their opponent. Hard to believe that the Heat would make that same mistake again, but they do have an O’neal on this team, too.
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