The Miami Heat will be looking for improved shooting and the Hawks will continue to search for ways to integrate their new players into the rotation when the teams meet on Monday in Atlanta.
This will be the second of four meetings between the two clubs, who are going head-to-head for playoff position in the Eastern Conference. The Heat are eighth in the standings, one game ahead of the Hawks.
The top six teams automatically qualify for the postseason.
Atlanta recorded a 120-110 win at home over Miami on Dec. 28. The teams meet again on Wednesday and March 27, both times in Miami.
The Heat are coming off a 120-113 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday, getting outscored 35-20 in the fourth quarter. Miami has struggled at the offensive end while losing five of its last six games.
“The offensive intentionality, I’ll have to take a look at it, but it felt better and it’s frustrating, but we’re making some progress and we just have to stay with it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have to show collective grit and resolve. The head coach can see that there’s some good trends happening.”
There has been no offensive shortfall from Tyler Herro, who scored a season-high 40 points against Dallas on Feb. 13 and matched that total on Sunday.
Herro is averaging a team-high 24.2 points. He scored 28 points against the Hawks in the first meeting.
“Tyler’s skill level and confidence is getting to a point where he can do it against all the different coverages and he can do it with or without the ball,” Spoelstra said. “He draws fouls now, which is important, especially on the road.”
The Heat lost Nikola Jovic to a hand injury, a fracture of the second metacarpal of his right hand, on Sunday. Jovic averages 10.7 points.
Atlanta dropped its third straight game with a 148-143 setback to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
The Hawks continue to get good effort from the three newcomers acquired at the trade deadline — Georges Niang, Caris LeVert and Terance Mann — but there remains a learning curve to overcome.
“Sometimes you don’t get the result you want, but you get better if you learn the things that are going on on the court,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said. “This is a team with a bunch of guys who haven’t played together all year. You start counting and we’ve got six or seven new players.
“I say that not as an excuse, but as a compliment to how connected these guys are and how hard they’re playing and how hard they’re trying to play together in some situations that are difficult.”
The constant has been Trae Young, who had 38 points and 13 assists on Sunday. Young is averaging 24.2 points and an NBA-best 11.4 assists.
“As frustrating as it is to lose, especially against a team that’s right there with us in the standings, we still have some new guys we’re trying to get accustomed to,” Young said. “I mean, playing how we play and understanding how I play. We’ll get it right.”
–Field Level Media
