Tyler Herro scored a game-high 36 points on 13-for-17 shooting from the field, helping guide the Miami Heat to a 122-112 win over the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.
Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell added 16 points apiece for Miami (32-41), which has won three consecutive games. Bam Adebayo collected 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Haywood Highsmith and Alec Burks put up 11 points each. Kel’el Ware brought down a game-high 12 boards in the win.
Trae Young had 29 points and 12 assists for Atlanta (35-38), which dropped its second in a row. Caris LeVert scored 17 points off the bench, Onyeka Okongwu added 15 points, while and Vit Krejci and reserve Terance Mann both scored 14 for the Hawks, who squandered an early 14-point lead.
After Miami scored the final 12 points of the first half to take a 60-55 halftime edge, the advantage ballooned to 21 as the Heat opened the third quarter with a 19-3 run. Herro’s 3-pointer with 7:47 remaining extended Miami’s commanding lead to 79-58.
Atlanta cut the deficit to eight after Georges Niang’s banked-in 3-pointer was followed by a floater from Young, but a layup from Kyle Anderson (10 points) and a trey from Highsmith sent Miami into the fourth quarter with a 93-80 edge.
The Hawks trimmed the gap to six on a Krejci 3-pointer, but Herro’s three-point play and Highsmith’s 3-pointer pushed the margin to 12. With less than five minutes left, Young hit two triples as part of an 8-0 spurt to pull the Hawks within five, but Herro’s step-back trey began a game-clinching 8-3 run to seal the victory.
Atlanta jumped out to a 15-2 lead, a run stamped with Zaccharie Risacher, Krejci and Young sinking triples. Young scored the Hawks’ last four points of the period, giving Atlanta a 32-22 edge entering the second quarter. With Young’s basket at the 1:45 mark, he became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 12,000 points and 4,500 assists, surpassing LeBron James.
The Heat then knotted the score at 41 with 7:03 remaining before the half, forcing an Atlanta timeout after Wiggins hit a trey. After the Hawks took a 55-48 lead on LeVert’s layup at the 3:31 mark, Miami finished the first half on a 12-0 run, including Herro’s fastbreak dunk with five seconds left.
–Field Level Media
