With key players returning on either side, the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat are riding high entering Friday night’s game at Miami.
Thanks to a fifth-straight 30-point performance from Trae Young and 22 points from Bogdan Bogdanovic, Atlanta rallied late for a 134-127 road win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
A 36-point Atlanta fourth quarter helped fend off Houston, which outscored the Hawks 35-21 in the third quarter.
Bogdanovic, who had missed Atlanta’s previous two games with an ankle injury, connected on 8 of 14 shots from the field, including four 3-pointers.
“You can tell what an important part of our team (Bogdan) is,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said. “There were some tough situations towards the end of the game, where he had to play 14-16 consecutive minutes, and he played really well.”
Along with Bogdanovic’s praise from Snyder, the key fourth quarter minutes from Saddiq Bey were just as impressive to the second-year Atlanta coach.
Bey, just 3-for-11 from the field in the game, knocked down a game-clinching triple with 35 seconds left that extended the Hawks lead to seven en route to their second straight win.
“He is such a warrior,” Snyder said of Bey. “For Saddiq to come in and be as locked in as he was, that was the biggest shot of the game that he hit with the clock running down to put us up seven.”
Wednesday’s win was important for the Hawks in keeping pace in the Eastern Conference standings. Atlanta had lost six of its first seven games in December before its current two game winning streak.
A team that the Hawks are trying to hunt down in the conference — and Southeast Division — is the Heat, who have dealt with their own injury bug.
The Heat breezed past the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, 115-106, winning their fourth game in six tries. The victory was without Jimmy Butler, who was scratched with a calf strain. He was ruled out of Friday’s game as well.
Filling the Miami scoring hole was Tyler Herro, who poured in 28 points in his second game back from an ankle sprain that forced him to miss 18 contests. Herro scored 25 points in a loss to Minnesota on Monday in his return.
“(Tyler) is relentless with his work,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s what you really have to appreciate about Tyler. … This is a lot harder than he has made it look. He has played two very efficient games. It’s not just the stat line. He’s doing a lot of winning things.”
Joining Herro’s return Monday was Heat center, Bam Adebeyo, who had missed seven games with a left hip contusion. Adebeyo is averaging 20 points and 6.5 rebounds in two games since his return from injury.
To add to the growing Miami injury report, Kevin Love missed Wednesday’s game in Orlando with a stomach illness but is expected to return Friday.
Friday’s game will be the second of the season between the teams, as the Heat won in Atlanta 117-109 on Nov. 11, thanks to 26 points and 17 rebounds from Adebayo.
–Field Level Media