The Miami Heat would have a tough test on Friday night. Facing off against an Atlanta Hawks team they had previously beaten twice in the last nine days, they were once again traveling to Atlanta to face off against a team looking for a reason to bounce back.
Recently making a shakeup to their roster, sending Cam Reddish and Solomon Hill to the New York Knicks for what essentially amounted to Kevin Knox and a draft pick, the Atlanta Hawks are looking to try and hit their stride as the second portion of the season gets underway.
The Miami Heat went into this game knowing that they would again be without Kyle Lowry, who had also missed the previous two games for “personal reasons”, while they would also, again, be without Tyler Herro due to health and safety protocols.
You could absolutely tell that the Hawks were the team that had been beaten twice by the Miami Heat recently, as they got right out to a hot start shooting the ball. It didn’t help a ton that the heat defenders acted as though they were allergic to contesting shots.
That would foreshadow much of the remainder of the game.