Miami Heat win a triple O.T thriller against Atlanta Hawks, even with LeBron and Wade out: NBA
With LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the bench due to left foot injuries, Chris Bosh led Miami Heat with 33 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assist while Mario Chalmers backed up with 29 points, 8 assists and 7 boards to carve out a 116-109
triple overtime victory over Atlanta Hawks. Udonis Haslem scored 14 and had 11 rebounds off the bench will Terrel Harris had 9 points and 14 boards, seven of them on the offensive glass.
The player who made the most impact for the Hawks was reserve Ivan Johnson. Johnson scored only 13 and 4 board, but it was his hustle that keyed Atlanta to fight back time and time again. In fact, when he fouled out early in the
third O.T, the Hawks completely lost their way.
The Hawks had 5 other players in the double figures, but failed to display the kind of intensity expected out of the number one defensive team in the season so far. Joe Johnson had 20 on 7 of 20, Josh Smith pounded 17 points and
13 rebounds; McGrady and Willie Green ended up with 14 each while Al Horford had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Atlanta entered their home court with a 7-2 run, but were soon brought down to earth by a 10 point unanswered spurt by the Heat. The Hawks bounced back though and took the lead late in the frame, only to see Udonis Haslem end the
quarter at 22-19 with two consecutive baskets.
Miami turned on the heat early in the second quarter and stretched their advantage to 29-23. Atlanta however responded swiftly and pressed the trigger to take a 31-29 nearly midway through the second. The game was tight in the
ensuing minutes, but Miami once again finished strongly to take a 54-49 lead at the break.
They Kept the Hawks under the cosh early in the third and Mario Chalmers’ 3 with 6:01 left in the period increased Miami’s lead to as many as 13, 67-54.
With the Hawks struggling, Miami took the foot off the gas and were made to pay. In the next 6 minutes or so, the Heat committed seven turnovers, paving way for 16-1 Hawks run as the third quarter ended with the hosts leading by
70-68.
The fourth quarter saw some back and forth action, but with 2:44 left in the regulation and the game tied at 82, Joe Johnson nailed a two and was followed by a three point dagger by Tracy McGrady to give Atlanta a five point lead.
Miami however stuck to their guts with Bosh and Chalmers turning to pick and rolls, and with 10.4 seconds on the clock, the former slipped in a layup to make it a two point game, 90-92.
With Atlanta having missed seven free throws in the quarter, Miami took their chances and Shane Battier fouled Joe Johnson, who split his free throws to hand the Hawks a 93-90 lead. With only 10 seconds left on the clock, Heat
ran a Chalmers to Bosh play, and the latter knocked down a trey to tie the game at 93 as the game head into overtime.
Heat started the overtime with two layups from Chalmers, but lost momentum deep in the period to allow Hawks a leeway, and a chance to win it in the second overtime.
Miami jumped out to a 4 point lead early in the second O.T again, but the Hawks bounced back actually took a 109-107 lead on a Marwin Williams tip in. However, Miami escaped courtesy of two free throws from Chalmers.
In the third extra time, the Hawks failed to live up to the challenge. Miami again did all the early running and instead of fighting back, Atlanta committed two turnovers at the start and missed all of their 8 field goal attempts
to hand the Heat a 116-109 win.
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