Coup’s Takeaways: Heat Reverse Course for Dominant Offensive Showing in Rematch With Hawks

That’s the thing about slumps. Most of the time, they end. Unfortunately, that goes for both teams. While Monday night may have been Miami’s worst three-point shooting night of the season, it wasn’t that much better for the Hawks.

Tonight was the mirror reflection of the previous matchup, both sides finding their offense early on. Andrew Wiggins got things going with a pair of jumpers before Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith – mostly out of the rotation in previous weeks, then entering the game with two immediate offensive boards and a corner three – really kicked things into gear with seven combined threes off the bench in the first half, Tyler Herro more than making up for his own cold night with a 6-of-10 start for 17 points. The HEAT were up to 11-of-19 from deep, Atlanta not far behind at 8-of-16.

The issue, then, was that Miami spent most of the first half trading buckets with the Hawks just as they had down the stretch of Monday’s loss, and the Hawks were doing it while getting into the paint a little more often. As the HEAT gained an 11-point lead thanks to Robinson’s second-quarter run, that lead evaporated rather quickly even as Erik Spoelstra went to the zone defense for one of the first elongated stretches since the trade deadline. All tied at 65 at the break, neither side with much of a claim to answers for the other.

Not the best start to the second half as Miami opened with a shot clock violation, the Hawks jumping out to a short advantage. A few minutes later the HEAT returned the favor, their best defensive possession of the night coming out of a timeout as they forced a 24-second violation of their own. More back-and-forth for much of the quarter, free-throws again helping Miami’s cause as Atlanta struggled to keep hands to themselves. Then came the threes, again, two from Davion Mitchell – including one of the stepback variety – and another from Robinson, off another Highsmith second chance, placing the HEAT back up eight.

Atlanta’s threes eventually cooled. Miami’s didn’t. And so the HEAT were up 14 going into the fourth, 17-of-30 from deep in all, their 107 points through three quarters tying the franchise record.

Just three minutes into the fourth, Mitchell had tied his career high with his fifth three (on five attempts) and the HEAT were cruising, up 18 with 20 threes on the ledger. No comeback for Atlanta, not even close, as the HEAT take it, 131-109.

Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo had strong, efficient nights, combining for 44 points on 28 attempts, but this game was really about the contributions of everyone else around them.

There was Robinson,  breaking out of his own little slump – he always breaks out of his slumps, eventually – with 24 points on 6-of-13 shooting. There was Highsmith, returning to the rotation after a bit of a hiatus, collecting four possession-shifting offensive boards and hitting 4-of-5 from deep on his way to 45 points. There was Wiggins, getting to the line for 10 attempts on his way to 15 points on nine shots. And then there was Mitchell, 5-of-5 from deep for 20 points. You don’t come just short of a franchise record for threes behind just one or two players. It takes a village to convert at volume, and with a 142.4 Offensive Rating (with 39 assists on 45 makes) the HEAT just followed up one of their worst scoring games of the season with one of their very best, both instances coming against the same team.

What was also interesting was how the rotation shook out, Erik Spoelstra adjusting on the fly once again. Early on it was Kyle Anderson, Alec Burks and Jaime Jaquez Jr. all getting the regular minutes, but as Highsmith (team-high plus-31) and Robinson caught fire Spoelstra shifted the plan, effectively playing a seven-man rotation in the second half until the game was out of reach. That’s been the game-to-game decision chain for Spoelstra each night, finding the right combination in game and rolling with it, and tonight he rolled with a player in Robinson who had seen his minutes fluctuate and another in Highsmith who had seen his minutes gone nearly completely of late. Credit them for turning things around, and Spoelstra for remaining flexible in search of wins.

This was not much of a night for defense until that timeout midway through the third period which Miami followed up by forcing Atlanta into a shot-clock violation. From then on, Atlanta struggled to get much of anything going forward, much less a clean look from three.

Another change from Spoelstra, this time introducing more zone defense than the team had played in nearly a month. The Hawks at first seemed comfortable against the zone but as the perimeter pressure mounted and Trae Young was forced to play off his back foot, there wasn’t much else to rely on.

Credit Mitchell there, too. It’s no surprise that he’s been a plus defender in Miami’s system given that his style of defense, pressure and strength, fits their scheme and philosophy, but these are the game where it really shines through. For as much as Young was calm and comfortable down the stretch on Monday and through the first half of this game, in control of his offense as ever, it was Mitchell who turned up the intensity, without fouling, and took Young out of the game in the second half, to the tune of Young shooting 4-of-12 with four turnovers and a -11 plus-minus.

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By ML Staff. Courtesy of NBA.