Hawks stifle Wade, tie series
MIAMI (AP) – That notion suggesting the Atlanta Hawks cannot win on the road at playoff time?
Forget it. The Hawks put that one to rest – saving their season as well.
Zaza Pachulia – with a black right eye for his trouble – finished with 12 points and 18 rebounds, and Atlanta raced out to a huge first-half lead and frustrated Dwyane Wade endlessly in beating the Miami Heat 81-71 Monday night, tying the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two games apiece.
Mike Bibby scored 15 points, Joe Johnson added 14 and Josh Smith 13 for the Hawks.
Wade scored 22 points, doing so on 9-for-26 shooting and wincing at times from a back injury. Jermaine O’Neal scored 20 points and James Jones added 19 – 10 of them coming in a spectacular first-half spurt – for the Heat, who shot 38 percent and never led.
It is Atlanta’s first road postseason win in nearly 12 years, a stretch spanning 13 games, and ended a slide where the Hawks had gotten pounded by a combined 132 points in their most recent five playoff games played outside Georgia’s capital city.
Now the series returns to Atlanta Wednesday for Game 5, and all the Hawks need is to defend their home court twice to get a second-round shot against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Bibby’s three-pointer with 4:57 left was the final dagger, giving the Hawks a 10-point lead and stopping Miami’s last real shot at a rally.
Knowing the Hawks would want no part of a 3-1 deficit, the Heat expected Atlanta’s best shot. They got it.
The Heat shot 5-for-23 in the first 21 minutes, digging a 21-point hole. At one point, Miami nearly had as many fouls (15) as points (19), Wade had four airballs (arguing he was fouled on two), and the Heat were unraveling.
When Pachulia tipped in Flip Murray’s missed three-pointer for a 44-23 lead, he looked at his teammates on the Atlanta bench and started punching the air.
Coincidentally, that’s when Miami started to fight.