Hawks rally in fourth quarter to steal Game 3 from Heat, as Lowry exits early with injury
.JPG "Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) shoots from between Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) and guard Kyle Lowry during the first half of Game 3 of their first-round playoff series Friday, April 22, 2022, in Atlanta.")
In a matter of minutes, the feeling surrounding the Miami Heat’s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks changed.
The Hawks rallied from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to save their season with a narrow 111-110 win over the Heat in Game 3 on Friday night at State Farm Arena. Just minutes away from taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, the Heat’s series lead is now down to 2-1 because of the Hawks’ late-game surge.
Neither team has yet to win a road game in the series, as the Hawks have now won 21 of their last 24 home games — dating back to Jan. 17.
“Hats off to Atlanta, they fought their butts off,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said.
The Heat led by 14 with 9:06 to play, but the Hawks dominated the rest of the way to close the game on a 31-16 run to escape with the one-point win.
With the Heat ahead by one point, star guard Trae Young hit a running floater with 5.5 seconds to play to put the Hawks ahead by one point. It turned out to be the game-winning basket.
“You have to expect that on the road that leads aren’t always going to hold,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We just had to find a way and we didn’t. We had a one-point lead and basically under 20 seconds. Young got a little bit of an angle and was able to hit a tough runner. He makes that look easy. That’s not like the easiest shot going full speed and with the touch.
Following a timeout, the Heat had one final opportunity to come away with the win. But Jimmy Butler missed a contested fadeaway three-pointer as the final buzzer sounded.
The Hawks won the fourth quarter 34-25 behind 57.1 percent shooting from the field and 5 of 11 shooting on threes in the period.
To make matters worse, starting point guard Kyle Lowry left the game with 1:59 left in the third quarter because of a left leg injury and did not return. Spoelstra said Lowry is battling a hamstring issue, with the team expected to learn more about the injury on Saturday.
The Heat appeared to take control of the game with a dominant third quarter, using a huge 21-0 run to take a 16-point lead in the period. But then the Hawks flipped the script in the fourth quarter.
Young led the Hawks with 24 points, with the help of 10-of-12 shooting from the foul line to overcome an inefficient 6-of-14 shooting performance from the field. Six Hawks players finished with double-digit points.
Herro scored a team-high 24 points for the Heat off the bench. Butler contributed 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Max Strus also recorded 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting on threes for the Heat.
From the start, Friday’s game was filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Originally scheduled for 7 p.m., Game 3 did not tip off until 7:55 p.m. because of a suspicious package found outside State Farm Arena.
According to the Hawks, the suspicious package was located outside Gate 2 of the arena. The package was not found to be explosive and it was safely removed by the Atlanta Bomb Squad.
The Heat and Hawks will play Game 4 on Sunday at State Farm Arena (7 p.m., TNT and Bally Sports Sun), and there will now definitely be a Game 5 in Miami on Tuesday. The winner of the Heat-Hawks series will meet the winner of the Philadelphia 76ers-Toronto Raptors series in the second round of the playoffs, with the 76ers on the verge of a first-round sweep with a 3-0 lead.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 10:32 PM.
