Heat at Hawks
THE STORY: The Miami Heat made sure their lone loss was just that by whipping a strong Indiana Pacers team on Wednesday. The Heat, who surrendered their five-game winning streak to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, bounced back despite being without Dwyane Wade, who sat with a foot contusion. LeBron James went off for 33 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, but gave Miami fans a scare when he went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter. The superstar forward stayed in the game but is listed as questionable for Thursday when the Heat look to avenge their lone setback at Atlanta. The Hawks followed up their big win over Miami with a loss at Chicago, but were still able to lock down on defense. Atlanta leads the league in scoring defense by allowing an average of 85.7 points. The Hawks are the only team to have held the Heat below 96 points this season.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE HEAT (6-1): Perhaps it was Wade’s 4 of 17 shooting effort in the loss to Atlanta that finally prompted him to rest the left foot that has been bothering him for nearly a week. Without its end-of-game go-to scorer, Miami decided not to let Wednesday’s game come down to the last second and shot 53 percent in the 118-83 thrashing. The Heat lead the league in scoring at 108.3 points, with James ranking at the top of the individual scoring heap.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (4-2): Atlanta nearly won an ugly game over the Bulls, but Joe Johnson shot an airball on a 3-point attempt at the buzzer in its 76-74 loss. The Hawks squandered a 19-point lead in the loss. They have reached 100 points in each of their four wins, but averaged 79 points in the two setbacks. Johnson, who shot 3 of 17 from the floor against Chicago, had his best game against the Heat on Monday. He put up 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting and hit 3-of-5 from beyond the arc in the win.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Johnson has averaged 16.1 points on 41.2 percent shooting in 31 career games against Miami.
2. The Heat have won their last three in Atlanta.
3. James averages 28.8 points against the Hawks.