Heat Fly By Hawks

The Miami Heat played for the second consecutive night at home and defeated the Atlanta Hawks 89-86 on Wednesday night. The Heat avenged a home loss earlier this season to the Hawks. Atlanta started off strong and led 8-4 almost four minutes into the contest. Miami came back with a 19-6 spurt to lead 23-14 with two minutes left in the first quarter. They were up 25-22 after one quarter with LeBron James pouring in 11 points in the opening period. The Heat scored the first four points of the second quarter to pull ahead by seven. The Hawks clawed back with a 16-9 run to tie the game at 38-38 nine minutes into the period and held a 45-43 halftime lead. The game was tied at 51-51 early in the third quarter, then Atlanta scored ten straight points for a double-digit margin. Later in the frame, Miami put in 13 consecutive points to regain the lead 68-65. The game was tied 68-68 after three quarters. LeBron James had 25 points at that point. Miami outscored Atlanta 9-3 in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, then the Hawks got nine straight points to lead 80-77. Miami finished the game with a 12-6 spurt that included two foul shots made by Dwyane Wade with two seconds left. The Heat have now won 11 consecutive games at American Airlines Arena. Wade had 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists while James added 31 points and 11 rebounds. Miami ends their short three-game homestand on Saturday against the Indiana Pacers.