With the news that the Miami Heat’s star big man, Bam Adebayo, is targeting a Monday return to the hardwood, everything was going smoothly for Miami on a beautiful Friday afternoon. However, there was still a game to be played that evening after this news broke.
Welcoming in the Atlanta Hawks for the second part of a home and home series, with the Miami Heat securing a win in Atlanta on Wednesday, the Miami Heat would have their hands full with an Atlanta Hawks squad that surely couldn’t have forgotten about what had happened to them in the last contest.
Starting the game off quiet on the Miami Heat side, it appeared as though the Atlanta Hawks would blitz the Miami Heat with a good shot-making and quick-hitting offense all night long until the Miami would eventually give back a blow of their own.
With the Miami Heat seemingly seizing control and putting up a 40 point opening period in the process, things seemed as if they could go the same way they had gone at the State Farm Arena on Wednesday.
The Miami Heat knew they would have a tough task before them in an angry Hawks team. Apparently, not angry enough though, allowing Miami to take it.
However, that was not to be the case either, as the Hawks would go on to score 40 points in the second quarter themselves.
Fast-forwarding to the end of the game, a near back-and-forth affair for much of the in-between, the Miami Heat would benefit from the fortune of having Jimmy Butler on their roster— while the Hawks would not.
You can’t forget about the contributions of Tyler Herro and P.J. Tucker. Herro contributed his usual tough shot-making, while Tucker was the grittiest player on the floor for either team.
He was the guy that was able to tie the ball game late at 118 apiece after diving on the floor to secure a loose ball, being fouled in the process, and nailing two huge free throws as a result. That was the final tie of the game and the one that would see the Heat run off with it, to a final tally of 124-118.
Plain and simple, these are the types of games that you have to have, for your win/loss record and the psyche of a team trying to make a deep postseason run. It’s also a game that “title contenders” get and “title pretenders” don’t.
There are several to a ton of those each season for the teams that are looking to make a serious run, occasions where they succeed more than they don’t. Friday was a good win for this team, but they can’t hang their hats there, as they have another tough 76er team coming in on Saturday.
It should be another good one.