Heat come away with the victory in Atlanta amid Bam’s 32 pts & Herro’s first career triple double

Caleb Martin also contributed a huge 20 pts and took the game over in the 4th on both ends.

The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks on the road 106-98, improving to 10-11 on the season and within one game of being back to .500 again. After losing 4 in a row, Miami has now responded with winning 3 in a row. They also snap their 7 game road losing streak.

Miami was down in the first half but went on a 14-2 run in the 3rd quarter and never looked back. They gained all the momentum and got what they wanted on offense, to go along with sharp defense and crisp rotations. There were so many good take always from this game on Miami’s end.

For starters, Bam Adebayo just continues to dominate as he backs up a 38 point performance last game with a 32 point, 8 rebound outing on 13/20 shooting.

Adebayo stated before the season he would like to increase his shot attempts to around 18, and Heat fans have seen just what the man can do when achieving that. He had some nice shots in his wheel house, including dunks, pull ups, floaters, and runners.
It looks like Adebayo is indeed starting to take a leap, averaging 25.5 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 52% fg, and 87% from the free throw line the last 6 games.

Tyler Herro also had a historic night in securing his first ever career triple double. He had a bad shooting night, but still played great for Miami, contributing 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.

The Herro and Bam connection is a real thing, as Herro has had numerous gorgeous set ups to the big man the last 2 games. Including some eye popping alley oops.

Caleb Martin showed once again that he is ready to emerge on this team, as he pitched in a more than solid 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists on 8/12 shooting.

Even with Max Strus returning to the line up and Nikola Jovic being a last minute scratch, Martin saw most his minutes at the SF position. Which has been something important to notice as of late.

With all these injuries, it has given time to PF’s like Haywood Highsmith which leads freeing up Martin to play as the SF. He looks so much more comfortable with this position change, even taking games over at times on both ends of the court.

Highsmith has given Miami productive minutes recently. He just does all the little things that lead to wins; rebounding, tips, deflections, strong individual defense, timely passes, cuts. However, the 3rd year PF went down with an injury late in the game, and hopefully it’s not one that will make him miss extended period of time.

The two players to watch out for on the Hawks in Trae Young and Dejounte Murray were strongly contained by the Heat in this game. Young struggled with 4/16 shooting to go along with Murray going 5/16 and only finishing with 13 points. Some of that struggle comes from the suffocating defense of Caleb Martin, who excels at guarding smaller players with his strength, speed, and length.

Dewayne Dedmon was also good off the bench, as made timely shots and provided a good big presence while giving Adebayo breathers.

Kyle Lowry keeps on proving to be a reliable veteran, finishing with 9 points and 9 assists. Strus helped the Heat stay afloat in the beginning of the game, splashing 3 three pointers in the opening minutes and finishing with 16 points.

Miami is gaining a bit of momentum, but runs into a tough challenge for the next game on Wednesday as they head to Boston, where they play 2 games in a row inside TD Garden. Jimmy Butler was rumored to return for at least 1 of the Boston Celtics matchups. His return would be huge to help match up against Boston’s star power, where they currently hold the number 1 seed in the East.