ATLANTA, (Reuters) – Dwyane Wade returned to form with 33 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 108-93 road win over the Atlanta Hawks and tie their Eastern Conference playoff series at 1-1 yesterday.
Wade, who shot just 38 percent and scored 19 points in the 90-64 loss on Sunday, banked in a 29-foot three-pointer with 2:38 remaining to cap a performance that included six of Miami’s 15 three-pointers.
“When you hit a shot like that — that’s game,” Wade told reporters. “I was mad at myself for not creating any space. I had to pull something out of my butt, and I was able to hit it.” Heat guard Daequan Cook scored 20 points off the bench and matched Wade’s six three-pointers, while Mike Bibby scored 18 points and Josh Smith had 17 and 10 rebounds to lead six Hawks in double figures.
Game three in the best-of-seven series is in Miami on Saturday.
Atlanta fell behind early in the first quarter and never really recovered, trailing by as much as 17 in the second half before making a late run that ultimately came up short.
The Hawks pulled within 96-91 with 4:16 to play before Udonis Haslem made a jumper and Wade added his long-range dagger.
“We didn’t start the game with a sense of urgency like we did in the first game,” Smith said.
“We also didn’t play together. You put the two negatives together, and that’s what causes us to lose.”
The NBA’s leading scorer during the regular season, Wade arrived early to work on his jump shot. It paid off during a torrid second quarter, when the All-Star guard closed the half with 13 straight points to vault Miami into a 54-41 advantage.
The Heat stayed hot behind the three-point arc for the whole game and Jermaine O’Neal, who has struggled with injuries since being traded to Miami in February, came up with a timely 19-point effort.
“Jermaine has been telling the coach to get him the ball and he wanted to be able to make things happen for our team,” Wade said.
“He came up big. If we can get that kind of production from him every night it’s going to be a long series.”
