Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) gets the ball from Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) during the first half of a game on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 122-112 win over the Atlanta Hawks (35-38) on Thursday night at Kaseya Center to close this five-game stretch at home with a 3-2 record. The Heat (32-41) now travels to face the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday to begin a three-game trip:
After losing 10 straight games, the Heat has now won three straight to generate some late-season momentum.
The Heat started Thursday’s contest slow, finding itself in a 14-point hole just five minutes into the game.
But after cutting the deficit to 10 by the end of the first quarter, the Heat went on to explode for 38 points on 13-of-21 (61.9 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-8 (75 percent) shooting on threes in the second quarter to win the period by 15 and enter halftime with a five-point advantage. Miami used 36 combined first-half points from its leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Andrew Wiggins to enter the break with the lead.
“You do have to credit them. That’s how they play. They play fast. It got us on our heels right away,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Hawks. “They had 10 in transition before we could even blink, before I could even call that first timeout. But we settled into it.”
The Heat’s surge continued after halftime in a big way, beginning the third quarter on a 19-3 run to push its lead up to 21 points.
The Hawks didn’t go away, though, cutting the deficit to six points with 9:51 left in the fourth quarter. The Hawks continued to eat into the deficit, pulling within five points with 2:45 to play.
But Herro delivered in the clutch for the Heat to stop the bleeding, hitting a 27-foot pull-up three to extend the Heat’s lead to eight with 2:18 remaining.
Then after the Heat got a defensive stop, Andrew Wiggins made a midrange jumper to give Miami a 10-point advantage with 1:13 to play and put the game away.
Herro was the star of the night, leading the Heat to the win with a game-high 36 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 shooting on threes and 6-of-7 shooting from the foul line to go with three rebounds, four assists and two steals. He was a team-best plus 36 in the victory.
“Tyler was so efficient,” Spoelstra said. “And the best part about it is he did this entire game mostly off the ball. I didn’t run one specific play for him. He got 36 just on the move, within the context of the game. He’s learning how to manipulate when guys are really being aggressive with him. He can be a great screener, he can play off the ball, he can back cut, he can do a lot of those different things. That’s great growth to see.”
Wiggins added 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Adebayo contributed 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The result: The Heat’s first three-game winning streak since Jan. 7-11.
“We didn’t let go of the rope,” Adebayo said. “We’ve been preaching that since we went on that 10-game losing streak. Like I said, you never know what can happen. We didn’t let go and now we’re streaking.”
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) screams after the heat score a three pointer during the second half of a game on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla. The Miami Heat won 122-112. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
After turning in the most efficient high-volume three-point shooting performance in franchise history on Tuesday, the Heat again got hot from behind the arc on Thursday.
The Heat shot a historically great 17 of 25 (68 percent) from three-point range on its way to a 26-point blowout win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
It marked the Heat’s best single-game three-point shooting percentage in franchise history when taking at least 25 threes. It also marked just the eighth time in NBA history (including the playoffs) that a team has shot 68 percent or better from deep when putting up at least 25 three-point attempts in a game.
On Thursday, the Heat started cold to make only one of its first eight (12.5 percent) three-point attempts.
But the Heat rallied from an early double-digit deficit by making seven of its final nine (77.8 percent) three-point attempts of the first half to enter halftime with a five-point lead.
The Heat then shot 10 of 16 (62.5 percent) from three-point range in the second half.
The Heat finished 18 of 33 (54.5 percent) from behind the arc to defeat the Hawks, improving to 7-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better from three-point range.
During its last two games, the Heat has shot a scorching 35 of 58 (60.3 percent) on threes.
With Duncan Robinson out for the second straight game, the Heat went with the same starting lineup and bench rotation.
Robinson missed his second consecutive game because of lower back pain on Thursday, resulting in the Heat going with the starting lineup of Herro, Alec Burks, Wiggins, Adebayo and Kel’el Ware for the second straight game.
Burks, who again filled Robinson’s spot in the starting group, totaled 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range in 16 minutes in his second straight start and sixth start of the season.
The Heat then used Haywood Highsmith, Davion Mitchell, Pelle Larsson and Kyle Anderson off the bench to complete its nine-man rotation against the Hawks.
But Highsmith, Mitchell and Anderson played most of the bench minutes, with Larsson limited to seven minutes.
Mitchell was among the Heat’s standouts Thursday, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting on threes, two rebounds, six assists and one steal in 36 minutes off the bench. Mitchell made what Spoelstra labeled the “play of the game,” diving near midcourt to come up with a loose ball that turned into a Highsmith three-pointer to extend the Heat’s lead to 12 with 9:12 left in the fourth quarter.
“That just inspired everybody,” Spoelstra said of Mitchell’s hustle play. “You just love that kind of energy.”
Highsmith totaled 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting on threes, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 34 minutes.
“They’ve been giving us this kind of burst off the bench,” Spoelstra said of Mitchell and Highsmith. “I mentioned that a couple games ago that your second unit, you want the energy to change. When your second unit comes in, it should feel different. And those two guys are embracing that kind of role.”
Anderson contributed 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, two rebounds and four assists in 18 minutes.
“It seems like a good fit right now with that second unit for him to be able to just kind of manipulate and orchestrate with his experience and IQ,” Spoelstra said of Anderson.
Mitchell (plus 9), Highsmith (plus 10) and Anderson (plus 7) all made a positive impact off the Heat’s bench.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Terry Rozier didn’t play Thursday despite being available for the Heat.
“Right now, we’re starting to get a little bit of consistency in the rotation and we’re just going to go with that,” Spoelstra said.
The Heat only had 11 available players against the Hawks, missing Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Kevin Love (personal reasons), Duncan Robinson (lower back pain), Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League).
The Hawks were without Kobe Bufkin (right shoulder surgery), Clint Capela (left fourth metacarpal ligament sprain), Jalen Johnson (left shoulder surgery), Larry Nance Jr. (right medial femoral condyle fracture), Daeqwon Plowden (G League), Jacob Toppin (G League) and Keaton Wallace (right shoulder AC sprain) against the Heat.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) looks at the court during the first half of a game against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
Hawks four-time All-Star guard Trae Young found some rare success against the Heat’s defense, but it didn’t matter. Young and the Hawks still lost.
The Heat has been relatively effective in defending Young since he entered the league.
Young, who has averaged 25.3 points per game during his NBA career, entered Thursday averaging only 20.9 points per game in his first 22 regular-season matchups against the Heat. That’s Young’s second-lowest scoring average among the 29 NBA opponents he has faced.
Young, who has shot 43.3 percent from the field during his NBA career, entered Thursday shooting just 39 percent from the field in regular season games against the Heat since coming into the league. That’s Young’s second-worst field-goal percentage among NBA opponents.
But Young was better than usual against the Heat on Thursday, recording 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the field and 6-of-12 shooting on threes, 12 assists and two steals. Young still fell to 9-14 in regular-season games against the Heat.
Thursday could end up being a play-in tournament preview.
The play-in tournament, which is done during the week between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference.
With just a few weeks left in the regular season, the Hawks are in seventh place and the Heat is in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
With the Chicago Bulls also winning Thursday, the 10th-place Heat (32-41) remains one game behind the ninth-place Bulls (33-40) in the East standings.
But with the Orlando Magic and Hawks losing Thursday, the 10th-place Heat is now 2.5 games behind the eighth-place Magic (35-39) and three games behind the seventh-place Hawks (35-38).
“Both teams knew the importance of this game,” Spoelstra said. “That’s what you have to kind of enjoy about this time of year and these games. You hope that it brings out the best in you and it definitely brought a different level in us.”
How is the play-in tournament structured?
The seventh-place team in each conference hosts the eighth-place team in a play-in game during the week of April 14. The winner of this matchup earns the seventh playoff seed.
The ninth-place team in each conference hosts the 10th-place team in another play-in game that week. The loser of this matchup is eliminated from playoff contention, while the winner of this matchup goes on the road to take on the loser of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game for the right to the eighth playoff seed.
So if the Heat finishes in 10th place, it would need to win two straight road games in the play-in tournament just to qualify for the playoffs as the East’s No. 8 seed. The Heat has nine games left to play this regular season.
Photo Gallery: Heat vs. Hawks | Thursday, March 27, 2025
Miami Heat forward Kyle Anderson (20) reaches for the ball while Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) and guard Caris LeVert (3) try to get it during the second half of a game on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla. The Miami Heat won 122-112. Alie Skowronskiaskowronski@miamiherald.com
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 9:56 PM.
Miami Herald
305-376-4991
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.