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.