ATLANTA, Ga. — The Atlanta Hawks could not keep the winless Miami Heat down Wednesday night, falling 129-117 at State Farm Arena for a third straight defeat since a 2-0 start.
Rookie Kingston Flemings and Nickeil Alexander-Walker led Atlanta with 23 points apiece. Jalen Johnson had a rough shooting night, making 4 of 12 shots, but still finished one rebound shy of a triple-double: 12 points, nine boards and 11 assists.
Miami, which had dropped its first four games, controlled the night from the opening quarter. The Heat hit 15 of 23 shots in the first period to lead 34-25, went to halftime up 69-56 and stretched the margin to 18 late in the third quarter on a Tim Hardaway Jr. 3-pointer.
Atlanta made a push in the fourth and got within four points with 6:21 to play, but Miami answered with a 17-7 run to put the game away.
The Heat did their damage inside, outscoring the Hawks 70-52 in the paint and shooting 53% overall. Andrew Wiggins chipped in 18 for the visitors and Pelle Larsson added 17 points and eight assists. Atlanta also turned the ball over 15 times, and Miami turned those mistakes into 13 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo, picking up his first win in a Heat uniform, scored 24 and pulled down 18 rebounds, and Bam Adebayo added 24 points while passing Udonis Haslem as the franchise’s career rebounding leader.
The Hawks, now 2-3, are right back at it Thursday night at home against Cleveland. That game’s start was moved back an hour so the Atlanta Dream can play Game 6 of the WNBA Finals against Golden State in the same arena that afternoon.
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