| 29 April 2009
Once again, the see-saw battle where these teams seem to only play well every-other game, happened tonight and Atlanta finally showed they are capable of being a good playoff team. Save for a small letdown in the third quarter, this was the Hawks team I've been waiting for the past few games. They seemed to figure out how to play like a cohesive team with 4 players in double figures in the first half alone and a big 17-2 run towards the end of the 2nd quarter. Once again, the Heat had a miserable first half of offensive basketball (and defensive for that matter) with Wade unable to find his stroke. He did, however, get a horrific flagrant foul called both by him and on him in this game. Speaking of which, when did the NBA become wussified? Seriously, this is beginning to get ridiculous. Flagrant fouls are almost typical now. NBA - toughen up! I know this isn't a new issue, but if the NBA starts to create rules like the NFL did in the off-season it will become difficult to watch.
Why the Hawks won
Joe Johnson remembered that he is an all-star tonight and helped propel the Hawks to victory - 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Flip Murray also remembered that he is good and scored 23 points off the bench for the Hawks. Amazingly (not really), the Hawks beat Miami in every statistical category. Wait, you mean to tell me that if a team gets more assists, rebounds, steals, three's, FT's, FG% than the opposing team they're probably going to win? Well, you'd be right. It's not rocket science here, folks. The Hawks played an overall better game with better adjustments, more energy, improved defense, and better shooting from the field. Thus, they win.
Why the Heat lost
Again, Dwyane Wade didn't have much help and when he did receive some, it was already too late. To be fair, Wade didn't really show up until the third quarter when he scored almost 20 points to get Miami back into this game. Michael Beasley finally showed up and had a solid game, however, the Heat live and die by the three and they only made 4 tonight. Simple as that. If the Heat don't make 10-15 three pointers they really won't have a chance at winning. Mario Chalmers and Daequan Cook were a combined 4-11 from the field while Jermaine O'Neal was 6-11. Though, he scored only 2 points in the 2nd half. This Heat team is too inconsistent for me to think they can win, but I really can't count them out either because Dwyane Wade is super human. It's really a weird series to predict.
Heading into the next game, what to look for
I would normally say that Atlanta would close this out in Miami, but they haven't shown me they can play consistently in this series. Thus, I'll say that Dwyane Wade shows up huge at home and sends this into a 7th game. I would anticipate that the support Wade gets, which occurs every-other game from his teammates, will show up in game 6. Look for Wade to have his best game of the playoffs when he and his team have their collective backs up against the wall. The Hawks will miss Horford's toughness if he's out for game 6 though.
Prediction for next game
Miami wins a close one to push this to 7 games. Yippee.
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