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Gameday Rundown: HEAT vs. Hawks Game 3

Miami HEAT vs. Atlanta Hawks

Friday, April 22 @ 7:00 PM

Series Record: 2-0 Miami

Location:State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA

Tipoff: 7:10 PM

TV: Bally Sports Sun, ESPN

Radio:WAXY 790 AM/WRTO 98.3 FM

Item of the Game: Miami HEAT Mashup White Hat

Uniform: Icon - Black

Injury Updates: Bam Adebayo, Questionable, Injury/Illness (Left Quadriceps; Contusion) - P.J. Tucker, Questionable, Injury/Illness (Right Calf; Strain) - Gabe Vincent, Probable, Injury/Illness (Right Big Toe; Contusion) - Markieff Morris, Questionable, Injury/Illness (Left Hip Flexor; Strain) - Caleb Martin, Questionable, Injury/Illness (Left Ankle; Sprain); Atlanta: Clint Capela, Out, Injury/Illness (Right Knee; Hyperextension) - Lou Williams, Out, Injury/Illness (Low Back; Discomfort)

Series Notes:

  • The HEAT and Hawks met four times this regular season with Miami winning the series, 3-1.
  • The HEAT has currently won eight of their last nine overall matchups against the Hawks in Miami. The HEAT are 73-57 all-time versus Atlanta during the regular season, including 47-19 in home games and 26-38 in road games.
  • Additionally, the teams enter this postseason having faced each other just two times during the playoffs with Atlanta winning both of those series coming down to the final game, first in the 1994 First Round (3-2) and in the 2009 First Round (4-3).

The Series So Far:

  • Game 1: A dominant 115-91 performance. If you think back to last September, once the HEAT’s roster was put together, and remember what you thought this team – full of experienced veterans and defensive talent – would look like once they hit the postseason, this is probably exactly what you thought it would look like. Stifling, suffocated defense – Atlanta’s half-court offense was 84.9 points-per-play – leading a balanced, team-oriented offensive approach (only Jimmy Butler took more than 11 shots) that could hit the highs of efficiency behind a stable of mobile volume shooters. In other words, the HEAT were exactly who we thought they were. The cliff notes are that a gifted Atlanta attack had few answers with the ball and no answers when Miami was in possession. As good a start to a series as you could possibly have, with Duncan Robinson setting the postseason HEAT record with eight threes (on nine attempts). Full Recap

  • Game 2: A game with great rhythm, this was not. The first half was messy for both sides, with plenty of free-throws, core players in foul trouble and turnovers to go around. Miami looked like they were going to pull away in the third as they went up by as much as 16, but then the offense – as has happened throughout this season and is something we’ll continue to keep an eye on – hit a lull and the Hawks got it under five as the minutes ticked down in the fourth.

    The constant throughout? Jimmy Butler. 45 points. 25 shots. Five rebounds. Five assists. Zero turnovers. Zero fouls. The third player in HEAT history to post a 45-5-5 in the playoffs – joining Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, who each did it once – and the first to post that line with zero turnovers. For as much as the Hawks had zero defensive answers for the HEAT as a team in Game 1, they had nothing to offer Butler alone in Game 2. He hit jumpers – more on that below – he got to the rim, he burrowed his way into and through defenders and he turned steals, steals born out of his remarkable combination of instincts and quickness, into dunks. A virtuoso performance for the record books, and one that puts Miami up 2-0 in the series with their 115-105 victory. This time, when the HEAT’s offense appeared to be descending into the mud, Butler was there to grab hold and catapult them out of it. Full Recap