The Miami HEAT fell to the Atlanta Hawks 93-90 Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Hassan Whiteside led the way for the HEAT with 19 points and 25 rebounds.
1. Whiteside = Beast
What else can you say about Whiteside at this point? Quite simply, the 7-footer was an absolute monster on the glass for Miami, racking up 10 offensive rebounds against Atlanta. From the start, the big fella did not shy away from his matchup with Dwight Howard and even blocked him in the second quarter.
Unfortunately, Howard exited the game in the third quarter with a left quad contusion.
Still, Whiteside really started to get rolling after halftime. The former Marshall standout gave the HEAT numerous second-chance opportunities and absorbed a lot of contact down-low. Despite that, he kept his cool and remained focused on the task at hand. In addition to his 19 points and 25 rebounds, Whiteside also had two assists, two steals and a block.
2. Richardson Gets Going
After playing a few games to regain his rhythm, Josh Richardson had perhaps his best all-around performance of the season against the Hawks. Throughout the contest, the combo guard mixed things up with pull-up jumpers and aggressive takes to the rack. In particular, he converted a big runner in traffic to cut Atlanta’s lead to 87-83 with 2:52 remaining in the game and later slammed home a dunk to cut the deficit to one with eight seconds left.
That said, another impressive play from Richardson came with 3:52 to play in the first quarter when Whiteside grabbed a defensive board and passed it up to him. From there, the 23-year-old took it down the left sideline, paused for a second at the left wing and blew by Dennis Schroder. He then absorbed contact from Mike Muscala and finished the nifty reverse layup.
In all, Richardson scored 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting (seven in the fourth quarter), grabbed four rebounds, blocked three shots, dished out two assists and stole the ball twice.
3. J. Johnson Finds the Range
James Johnson really made his presence felt on both ends on Tuesday night. On the offensive end, he knocked down three treys and continued to show his fancy footwork on drives to the rim.
Of course that was important, but Johnson’s contribution on the flip side of the ball was also vital. He did a great job of defending Paul Millsap and made things very tough on the three-time All-Star. As a result, Millsap shot just 41.2 percent on the night.
Johnson finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, four boards, one steal and one block.
Other Takeaways:
-While Tyler Johnson did the bulk of his damage in the second quarter, where he scored eight points on 3-of-5 shooting, he also made some huge plays in the clutch. After blocking Schroder’s layup attempt with 3:32 left in the fourth, he nailed a three to cut the Hawks’ lead to three a little over a minute later. In all, Johnson tallied 14 points on 50 percent shooting, two rebounds and two assists.
-Rodney McGruder earned his first-career start and finished with eight points, four boards, three assists and two steals. Late in the game, McGruder had a huge offensive rebound and put-back to cut the deficit to 89-88 with 13.6 seconds left to play.
Game Note:
-Justise Winslow (left wrist), Goran Dragic (sprained left ankle) and Wayne Ellington (right thigh contusion) sat out.
Looking Ahead:
-Up next for the HEAT are the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Tip-off is set for 7:30. Tickets can be found here.
