Heat at Hawks
THE STORY: The Miami Heat certainly looked like NBA championship contenders on Sunday when they jumped into sole possession of the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference by crushing the Boston Celtics 100-77. The Atlanta Hawks have made noise occasionally this season as if they too had a chance to emerge from the East. Lately, it looks like that is a long shot at best. The Hawks will be looking to snap a four-game slide when they host Miami on Monday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sun Sports, SportSouth
ABOUT THE HAWKS (44-36): Atlanta insists on finishing the regular season on a down note. It has dropped four straight, including an embarrassing 115-83 setback at the lowly Washington Wizards on Saturday. Set for their first-round matchup next week with the Orlando Magic, the Hawks are playing like they have nothing left to prove. The Wizards trotted out only 10 healthy players, including five rookies and three D-league refugees on Saturday, and still went off at 53.5 percent from the field against the Atlanta defense. The Hawks seemed to be interested only in letting their man get around them and fouling as Washington went to the free throw line 29 times. There are certain statistics that teams look at to gauge effort, the most basic being rebounding. The Wizards outrebounded the playoff-bound Hawks 48-33, and Atlanta managed only seven offensive boards.
ABOUT THE HEAT (56-24): Miami is doing the exact opposite, turning it up in preparation for what it hopes will be a deep run to the finals. Sunday’s matchup was the biggest test recently for the Heat, who had lost to the Celtics (55-25) in each of the previous three meetings. But as Boston struggles to the finish, Miami has won 10 of its last 12 to pull into the No. 2 spot. Another win and a Boston loss would secure the Heat home court advantage should the two meet again in the Eastern semifinals. It was not even close Sunday as LeBron James went for 27 points and the Miami defense suffocated the Celtics, holding them to less than 20 points in each of the final three quarters. The Heat finish on the road at lowly Toronto on Wednesday.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Kirk Hinrich has been held to five points or less in four of the last six games for the Hawks. Joel Anthony has recorded double-digit rebounds in two of the last three games for Miami after failing to top six in the previous 34 contests.
KEY STATISTIC: The Heat have won 23 straight games in which they reach 100 points since a 130-102 setback at Denver on Jan. 13. Atlanta has allowed an average of 110 points during its four-game slide.
SEASON SERIES: Miami has taken two of three from the Hawks, most recently a 106-85 Heat win in Atlanta on March 18. James went off for 43 points while Chris Bosh chipped in 17 and 10 boards. Al Horford and Josh Smith were the only two starters to reach double figures for the Hawks with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
KEY INJURIES: MIAMI: F Udonis Haslem (foot). ATLANTA: F Josh Smith (knee); C Jason Collins (ankle).
LAST WORD: “I’m not very confident at all,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “You can’t just flip the switch. It doesn’t work like that. I’ve been around this thing long enough to see that you can’t just turn it on and turn it off. You want to be playing well. You want to be clicking so that you don’t miss a beat once the playoffs start.”