Heat 107, Hawks 78 | Game 3 | Miami, FL The Basics Recap | Box Score | Highlights The Hawks are down 2-1 in their best-of-seven first round series against Miami after a 107-78 loss at American Airlines Arena tonight. Atlanta fell behind early and trailed 22-12 after one ... But the Hawks put together a 9-0 run to start the second half, before Miami finished the half on a 28-8 stretch to take a commanding 50-29 halftime advantage ... Wade had 19 in the first half, and the Hawks hit just 13-42 field goals (31.0 pct) ... The Hawks started to chip away at the deficit, and were down 75-61 through three ... But Miami pulled away in the fourth to take the win. Atlanta was outshot from the field, .469-.367, and outrebounded, 48-35, for the game. After hitting 15-26 from downtown in game two, the Heat sunk 12-23 on this night. Mike Bibby, Al Horford and Josh Smith paced the Hawks with 13 apiece, while Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 29 for Miami. Atlanta looks to even the series, as the play Game 4 in Miami on Monday (8 p.m., Fox Sports South HD, TNT, 790 The Zone).

Lang Whitaker's Three Things

1. Ugh. You know, I suggested the Hawks just forget about their Game 2 loss, as I didn't think it was possible that Miami could come out and play as perfectly as they did in Game 2. But they did. The Heat shot 50 percent on threes in the first half, finishing 19-19 from the line in Game 3 and 27-46 from three point land in Games 2 and 3. (If they'd shot around 50 pct on three in the regular season they'd have led the NBA in three-point percentage by over 10 percentage points.

2. You've got to do something about Dwyane Wade. Before Game Three, Woody suggested the Hawks did a pretty good job against Wade and Miami, as they had it to a 5-point deficit with just 5 minutes to go. So they stick to their single-coverage of Wade tonight…and he went for 29 points, hitting open jumpers against and again over a variety of Hawks defenders. Double him, work harder to deny him the ball, have Mario West try and guard him, anything. The worst thing the Hawks can do is nothing.

3. As bad as tonight's loss was, here's the thing: If the Hawks can win Game 4 here in Miami on Monday night, what will be left will be essentially a 3 game series and the Hawks will regain homecourt advantage. (Of course, that requires the Hawks breaking what's now a 12-game road Playoff losing streak.) We haven't looked great in Games 2 and 3, but the Heat have played like the Dream Team. Will our nightmare finally come to an end on Monday?