Poor Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is coaching nobody

The Heat’s issues with containing opposing point guards again was an issue at the start of the third period, with Teague scoring nine of the Hawks’ first 11 points to open the second half.

“It’s still very early in the season but we are optimistic about how we are playing”, center Al Horford said after Tuesday’s 98-92 win at Miami. North Carolina men’s basketball coach Roy Williams was also at the game. “We’ve got to come out with a mentality of a desperate team trying to get a win on Friday”.

TNT personality and ex-NBA All World forward Charles Barkley call the Miami Heat one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference this preseason and head coach Erik Spoelstra’s crew is beginning to find their hard-court mojo.

Hassan Whiteside finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds for Miami. Drummond has scored 81 points and grabbed 78 rebounds in those four games – the last guy to have more than 70 and 70 after four games was Charles Barkley. On the whole, Atlanta shot just 6 of 17 in the quarter on the way with 18 points, and with an uptick from Brooklyn (26 points!), the home team actually went into the half with an inexplicable two-point deficit. From there, the Hawks forced Miami to settle for a last-second 3-point attempt by scuttlebutt-surrounded point guard Mario Chalmers that went awry, sealing the victory. However, they were also without Wade for most of the fourth quarter, who left the game with a reported migraine.

The Atlanta Hawks won their fifth consecutive game and in the process dropped the Brooklyn Nets to 0-5.

“Especially on offense, we weren’t where we wanted to be and they were taking us out of our rhythm, whereas Atlanta was kind of getting whatever it wanted”, he said.

Which is to say, Miami’s pieces got ground up by the Hawks’ gears, all while Dr. Claw the King plotted his next move from the comfort of his lair. He finished the night with 16 points and five rebounds.

From a visual perspective, the first half of Wednesday’s game was… appalling. Kent Bazemore was the game’s top scorer, accumulating 20 points on 6-for-12 shooting.

For example, in RHJ’s 79 minutes this season, the Nets are outscoring opponents by an average of 15.8 points per 100 possessions.

At one point in this game Atlanta held a 15-point advantage and Miami shrunk that to four during the fourth quarter, In the final minutes of the game, the Heat had a chance to complete the comeback but were unable to do so.