Recap #1: Team wins without Butler and Herro
Recapping last night’s Miami Heat – Atlanta Hawks game shows Miami is better than 5-4. They won without Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler. Butler didn’t play with the team due to family reasons. Tyler Herro is recovering from an ankle sprain. Atlanta was an upgrade in competition. Atlanta was 5-1 in their last six games. Trey Young scored 41 points against Orlando in Mexico City. Miami only had Bam Adebayo as a scoring threat going into this game. Miami has a bunch of undrafted players, blah, blah, “smoke and mirrors. (Read the good things about the undrafted players here.)
Recap #2: Heat turned over Atlanta 21 times
That obvious fan would be wrong. Trey Young scored 27 points on 19 shots. He wasn’t a factor in the game. Atlanta was trailing the whole game and never got closer then seven points. Miami played “team basketball” ending up with 23 assists on 41 field goals. Their defense turned over the Hawks 21 times. Bam Adebayo was the star of the game scoring 26 points and 17 rebounds. Jaime Jaquez, Jr. scored 20 points and played good defense throughout the game. Kyle Lowry (17 points), the gritty veteran, drew a key foul on Clint Capela to stave off an Atlanta comeback and secure the victory.
Recap #3: Adebayo is becoming a star player
Bam Adebayo led the Heat offense and defense. He “dream shook” defenders with a feathery jumper. He used his long wingspan to secure key rebounds. Also, he drew double teams each time he was isolated. He passed well out of the double team not turning the ball over. Obviously, Miami needed to be ranked higher than the ESPN season preview here (really?! behind the 76ers and Knicks). Check whether the 76ers are pretenders or contenders in this article here.
Atlanta beat Miami last year in the first round of the play-in round. The Heat beat Atlanta in the first round of the 2022 playoffs and dominated Trey Young. Atlanta has good players with Dejounte Murray, Oneke Okongwu and Clint Capela. They pounded Miami on the offensive glass 15-7 and had six blocks. But, Miami seems to have the Hawks number as in the last 16 games, Miami is 11-5.
