Short-handed Hawks lose in Miami, 112-97

The Atlanta Hawks made their way to Miami on Tuesday night for the first half of a home and home with the Heat. Evan Turner appeared on the injury report, eventually missing the game with Achilles soreness. Allen Crabbe and Chandler Parsons also remained out for the visitors.

The game started out at a torrid pace thanks to John Collins making every three he took. Collins hit four three pointers in the first nine minutes alone which ties his career high in made three pointers in an entire game.

Miami countered well with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo combining for 15 of the Heat’s 29 first quarter points. Collins made a couple of nice defensive plays in the paint, but the Hawks found themselves trailing 29-26 after one quarter.

Trae Young got off to a torrid start in the second quarter scoring five quick points. Sadly, Young came up injured on a drive to the rim and was forced to leave the game with what was initially called a sprained ankle.

Fortunately for the Hawks, a bit of good news appeared from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, with X-Rays reportedly negative for Young.

With Evan Turner already out of tonight’s action this put the Hawks in a really tough spot. Initially they turned to DeAndre’ Bembry, but eventually Kevin Huerter and De’Andre Hunter got involved as well.

Tyler Herro absolutely went off for the Heat in the second quarter, scoring nearly 20 points in a single quarter, but the Hawks did well to hang in. After the first half Atlanta found themselves down 59-49 with the feeling things could’ve been much worse without Trae Young for a third of the first half.

The second half started with the Heat jumping out to a quick start. The Hawks really struggled to score with Young’s absence. Atlanta was able to stay in the game due to some timely defense paired with three point jumpers.

Much like the first quarter Butler and Adebayo combined to pull the weight for Miami in the third quarter with 11 combined points.

The Hawks really tapered off late in the third quarter as the Heat outscored Atlanta 29-21 in the third quarter stretching their lead to 88-70 heading into the final frame. On a side note, Collins did set a new career high by hitting his fifth three pointer of the game in the third quarter.

Cam Reddish gave Hawk fans a reason to cheer in the opening moments of the fourth quarter as he dunked all over Herro. In fact, Reddish was featured quite a bit more this evening in the absence of Young.

After that, the final minutes were quite murky with neither team playing particularly well or poorly either. It is an understatement to say the Hawks really missed Young down the stretch of what might have been a pretty winnable game.

Reddish had another really nice moment with this pretty pocket pass to Bruno Fernando for an easy slam. It really is encouraging to see him in the creator’s role.

Atlanta mounted a small 6-0 run near the midway point of the fourth quarter that cut the deficit to just 12. Jabari Parker was a large part of the Hawks’ closing efforts with a set of driving dunks.

With just over three minutes remaining the Hawks found themselves within 11 points of the Heat, but Miami did just enough to keep Atlanta at arms length.

The Hawks definitely had their chances, but simply couldn’t find enough points without their engine on the floor. Collins led the Hawks with 30 points and seven rebounds. Collins was one of just two Hawks to reach double digits in scoring tonight along with Parker, who added 12 for Atlanta.

Atlanta falls to 2-2 on the season with this loss and the same two teams will square off on Thursday evening at State Farm Arena.