Away | Home | ||
Miami | Atlanta | ||
Heat | Hawks | ||
56-24 | Record | 44-36 | |
(3rd) 111.7 | Off Rtg | 106.2 (21st) | |
(5th) 103.7 | Def Rtg | 106.9 (13th) | |
(20th) 91.0 | Pace | 89.4 (27th) | |
(8th) 102.2 | Pts/G | 95.2 (27th) | |
(7th) 94.8 | Opp Pts/G | 95.8 (9th) | |
(9th) 42.2 | Rebs/G | 39.4 (27th) | |
(26th) 19.9 | Assists/G | 22.0 (12th) | |
Likely Starters | |||
Mike Bibby | PG | Kirk Hinrich | |
Dwyane Wade | SG | Joe Johnson | |
LeBron James | SF | Marvin Williams | |
Chris Bosh | PF | Al Horford | |
Zydrunas Ilgauskas | C | Marvin Williams | |
Mike Miller | 6th | Jamal Crawford | |
Matchup Series 2-1 | |||
Philips Arena | |||
7:00 PM EST | |||
Sun Sports / 1080 AM | |||
Injury Report: | |||
Heat: Udonis Haslem (left foot surgery - out indefinitely) | |||
Mike Miller (sprained thumb - day to day) | |||
Erick Dampier (sore knees - day to day) | |||
Hawks: Jason Collins (left ankle - day to day) | |||
Josh Smith (right knee - day to day) |
"We're not done. It would mean nothing to take care of this game for us not to finish off the next two.", Erik Spoelstra said, and it's just the right approach. A victory in Atlanta tonight and Toronto on Wednesday would ensure the Heat home-court advantage over any opponent in their path to a championship other than the Spurs and Bulls.
Miami leads the series 2-1 on two lopsided victories, the lone loss coming in overtime at a time the Heat were missing Bosh due to injury, and Bibby hit 4-of-10 from 3 for Atlanta. Most fascinating was their last meeting on March 18th, two weeks after Bibby signed with the Heat, as the ex-point guard translated all the Hawks' plays as they were called and orchestrated his teammates into a dismantling of the Hawks offense. It's possible the Hawks might have tweaked their playbook by now, but if not, it should definitely be an interesting strategy to watch again.
The Hawks are on a 4-game losing streak, 2nd worst next to the Lakers out of all playoff-bound teams.