The Miami HEAT defeated the Atlanta Hawks 115-111 Friday night at Philips Arena. Luol Deng led the way for the HEAT with 30 points.
1. Deng Relentless
With just nine players available for Miami, Deng came out strong and got off to a quick start. Luckily for the HEAT, he never looked back.
Deng made some decisive cuts to the rim throughout, which allowed his teammates to find him for easy looks. Otherwise, the vet also attacked the rim with purpose. Take for instance a play just as the second quarter began.
To start the sequence, Deng faked the pass to Josh McRoberts and drove inside from the left wing past Thabo Sefolosha. He then elevated for the huge two-handed jam over Mike Scott.
Thanks to all the drives to the rack, Deng got to the free throw line often and kept pressure on the Hawks. On the flip side of the ball, he was extremely active defensively as usual. Still, Deng poured in 12 of his 30 points in the fourth and hit some huge outside shots to get the victory. In addition to those 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting, he also tallied 11 boards and four steals.
2. Dragic and McRoberts Wheel and Deal
While McRoberts put on a passing clinic against Atlanta and made some excellent feeds throughout, he was also extremely aggressive in the contest. He did a little bit of everything on the offensive end, as he knocked down three 3-pointers and finished some tough plays inside off the dribble. Quite simply, his versatility was on full display in his extended playing time on Friday night. McRoberts flirted with a triple-double and ended up with 19 points, 10 assists and six rebounds on 8-of-13 shooting.
Goran Dragic, meanwhile, also tallied 10 assists and set up his teammates well both in transition and in the halfcourt. While he had a quiet first half offensively, he scored 15 of his 17 points in the final two quarters. Dragic finished some tough plays at the rim late in the game to obtain the win.
3. Strong Defense Key
Above all else, the HEAT earned one of their best wins of the season. Miami’s defensive disposition was excellent in the first half, which enabled the team to gain some confidence. That strong defensive play came through once more late in the fourth, as the HEAT got stops when they needed them most. As mentioned before, Deng was the catalyst in that regard, but Miami displayed toughness as a whole.
Other Takeaways:
-Along with Dragic, Gerald Green also picked things up in the second half. Green scored 11 of his 14 points in the third quarter on 5-of-7 shooting. He mainly did damage off mid-range jumpers, but he knocked down a corner three as well.
-Udonis Haslem fought hard on both ends in his 12 minutes of action and totaled six points and three boards.
Game Note: Dwyane Wade (knee), Chris Bosh (didn’t travel), Hassan Whiteside (suspension) and Tyler Johnson (shoulder surgery) sat out.
