Norman Powell scored 25 points and Pelle Larsson added a career-high 21 points to help the visiting Miami Heat roll to a 126-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday to end their three-game losing streak.
It was the first of four meetings between the two teams. Miami has won three straight against Atlanta.
Powell was 9-for-16 from the field to lead the team in scoring for the 16th time. Larsson, the second-year forward who returned after missing five games with a left ankle injury, was 9-for-13 from the field and 3-for-4 on 3-point attempts.
Andrew Wiggins scored 18 points and Kel’el Ware added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Nikola Jovic returned after missing six games with an elbow contusion and had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Atlanta’s Trae Young scored 30 points and Jalen Johnson had 24 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists for his 12th consecutive double-double, the longest such streak in the league this season.
The Hawks have lost five straight and nine of their last 11. They are 0-4 since Young returned to the lineup on Dec. 18.
Miami played without Tyler Herro, who has missed six straight with a toe injury, and Bam Adebayo, who was a scratch with lower back soreness.
Miami had a 24-15 lead on Powell’s dunk with 4:31 left in the first, but Atlanta scored nine straight to tie the score and it was tied again at 32-32 to close the quarter.
The Heat went on a 12-0 run late in the second quarter and extended their lead to 63-49 on a tip-in by Ware. Johnson’s late basket made it 63-51 at halftime, but the Hawks scored only 19 points in the second period.
The Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. came off the bench to lead all first-half scorers as he contributed 14 of his 16 points before halftime.
The Hawks got as close as one point in the third quarter when Young nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 79-78 — only to have Miami outscore them 11-6 to end the quarter and take a 90-84 lead into the fourth.
The Heat built the lead to 15 points at 102-87 before Atlanta used a 9-2 run to cut the margin to eight points with 7:27 to play. But Miami scored the next nine points to take a 17-point lead and were not threatened again.
–Field Level Media
