Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat get back over .500 on tour in Atlanta on big nights from Larsson, Wiggins and Powell

Both teams had to snap out of their funk at some point, going into the game on a combined seven straight losses, and the Heat beat the Hawks to the punch in Atlanta. They avoided falling below .500 thanks to six players scoring in double figures, and Pelle Larsson’s top-grade marksmanship and versatility eclipsed all. 

He nailed three trifectas and six shots in the lane, and he was one of the main forces that kept the Heat from stalling as the first quarter ended in a stalemate (32). Coach Erik Spoelstra sang his praises postgame, too, calling his work the glue. 

They also got back to playing in the fast lane, scoring 22 points in the open court.

Norman Powell was next in contributions, logging 25 points on 56.3 accuracy, with five offerings and seven boards.

Props to Jaime Jaquez Jr. for playing as he did before opponents started scheming him out by putting mobile bigs on him. 

Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo were absent, but the defense, playmaking, and rebounding were back to what they were when the team was hot to start the year. They tied their fifth-highest output in the paint this season (66), and the most eyebrow-raising stat was that eight of them racked up 14 steals to offset their weak 3-point shooting. 

Atlanta’s two main threats, Jalen Johnson and Trae Young, got what they wanted at short and long range, but the Hawks registered 19 fewer shots.

It couldn’t have been done without Kel’el Ware stepping up. His vertical spacing from the dunker spot was out of reach for Atlanta, and cutting in for tip-ins with a pair of threes produced 16 digits on 70% shooting. 

Their record is now 10-5 when scoring at least 120 points (126-111), and it was the second time this year that they had three players make at least nine shots (Larsson, Andrew Wiggins, and Powell).