The Atlanta Hawks were in action on Sunday to face the Miami Heat for the final regular-season game. With the Hawks clinching a playoff spot, there wasn’t much for the Hawks to play for in this game unless they cared about being either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed.
If the Hawks win, they’re the No. 5 seed and will face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, but if they lose, the Orlando Magic win and the Toronto Raptors lose, they’ll still finish No. 5.
For the Hawks, their priority was to make sure
they were healthy, as none of the starters, plus Jonathan Kuminga and Gabe Vincent, played in this game. As for the Heat, they’re still playing for a chance to move up to the No. 9 seed, and everybody was available for them.
Keaton Wallace got this shot to go early in the quarter for the Hawks.
Zaccharie Risacher knocked down the first three-pointer of the game.
The Heat started to gain some momentum as the quarter went on, and the Hawks struggled to find consistent offense. They were eventually able to get some things going on that end of the floor, and Keshon Gilbert helped with that on this pass to Christian Koloko.
Buddy Hield came in and knocked down his first three-pointer as Hawk, and cut their deficit down to six points.
Going into the second, the Hawks trailed 33-24.
Hield kept the three-pointers flying to start the quarter.
The Heat couldn’t miss during a stretch of the quarter and extended their lead, but the Hawks kept fighting.
Hield continued getting buckets.
The Hawks got into a rhythm late in the second, and after being down by 18 points, they cut their deficit to just nine going into halftime.
Corey Kispert came out to start the third with a three-pointer.
The Hawks stuck around for a little while, but the Heat kept finding a way to get their lead to double digits.
Going into the fourth, the Hawks trailed 99-84.
Hield kept shooting the ball, and it kept going in.
It led him to 30 points.
Though the Heat pretty much had control for most of the quarter, the Hawks kept knocking down shots.
In the end, the Hawks’ end-of-the-bench guys didn’t have enough for them to overcome a team that was still playing for something, and the regular season came to an end.
Hield finished with 31 points, Kispert finished with 21 points, and Newell finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hawks will have a week off before they face off against the New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs.
