Heat at Hawks
The Miami Heat are anxious to put back-to-back disappointing losses behind them Saturday when they travel to face the Atlanta Hawks for their first game after three days off that followed defeats to Sacramento and Charlotte. Miami gave up 248 points in those two efforts, and has spent the three-day break working to improve a defense that had not surrendered more than 113 points in winning three of its first five games.
“Every time we had any type of momentum, they just took it the other way,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told the media after the Heat allowed Charlotte to shoot 54.3 percent from the field Tuesday and make 13 3-pointers. “Defensively, they annihilated us and broke our defense down without much resistance.” The Hawks fell for the sixth time in eight games with their worst loss of the season Thursday against Sacramento, giving up 77 second-half points in a 146-115 rout. Atlanta trailed only by five points at halftime thanks to shooting 60.5 percent from the field, but the NBA leaders in turnovers per game (18.6) committed 22 miscues against a Kings team that finished 12th in the Western Conference a season ago. “They went through struggles last year and you see what they’re able to do now,” Atlanta rookie point guard Trae Young told reporters. “Of course, you never want to lose like this.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Miami), FS Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE HEAT (3-4): Guard Dwyane Wade came off the bench to score 19 points Tuesday, the third time in five games the veteran has scored 19 or more points, and has made 10 3-pointers across his past three contests. Guard Josh Richardson leads Miami in scoring at 19.1 points per game, going for a career-best 31 against Sacramento on Monday before the Hornets held him to 15 points. Center Hassan Whiteside has set a team record with 109 total rebounds through the first seven games of the season, including a 24-rebound effort against the Kings.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (2-6): Young recorded his second double-double of the season Thursday with 14 points and 10 assists (along with eight turnovers), and the fifth overall pick in this summer’s draft leads Atlanta in scoring (18.5 points per game) and assists (seven per contest). Forward Alex Poythress returned after missing three games with a left knee sprain and bone bruise, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds Thursday. Point guard Jeremy Lin scored a team-high 23 points Thursday on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, and has scored 35 points total in the past two games after scoring 29 points total in his first six contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Wade is 21 points shy of Clyde Drexler (22,195) for 30th place in NBA history.
2. Atlanta lost G Kevin Huerter, another first-round pick from this summer, to a sprained right ankle in the first period Thursday.
3. Miami won the season series 3-1 in 2017-18, and has defeated the Hawks in five of the past six meetings.