Miami Heat Playoffs: They Destroy Atlanta Hawks In Game 1, 115-91

As the Miami Heat got set to take the floor for Game 1 of their opening rounds playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, no one could have predicted what was about to happen. With Atlanta’s ability to explode on offense, behind Trae Young‘s ability to go nuclear, things could have gotten really interesting for the Heat.

Well, none of that happened, as the Miami Heat came out to make a statement. That is just what they did too.

Though the game started out slow, back and forth, and deliberate for both sides, once the Heat decided to take off, things were over. They got out to a double-digit lead early in the game and never looked back.

Everything was clicking for them. The long ball was going, Jimmy Butler was engaged, and the defense was intense.

The Miami Heat have been busy working hard while the Hawks were trying to secure their playoff berth. It showed too on Sunday, as Miami destroyed them.

Speaking of defense, they absolutely dominated Trae Young on that side of the ball Sunday. The diminutive guard can be, flat-out, lethal when he gets it going, but the Miami Heat were having none of that.

You won’t believe this stat line unless you saw it happen, but here goes nothing. On Sunday, Young would be held to just eight points, six rebounds, and four assists on 1-12 shooting from the field and 0-7 from three.

As a complete team, the Miami Heat would hold the Hawks to 26-75 from the field for just 38.7 percent shooting and 10-36 from range. On the other side, the Miami Heat would shoot 52.4 percent (43-82) from the field and 47.4 percent from three (18-38).

If they wanted to get out to a hot start in the postseason, this was certainly that. With the postseason though and in the case of wins or losses, you want to let the last one go as soon as you can.

This was a great one but now, they must turn to Game 2, where they’ll look to do it all over again.