Coup’s Takeaways: Herro and Mitchell Save the Day as HEAT Survive in Atlanta to Advance to Postseason

One down. One to go. Only the Atlanta Hawks in their way.

On the verge of being the first No. 10 seed in the short history of the Play-In Tournament to make the postseason, the HEAT had yet another fast-paced team in their way after dispatching the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.

This one started much like that one, Miami hitting early and hitting hard, up 10-0 as Atlanta’s offense looked disjointed and in disarray. The Hawks eventually found some footing, Trae Young hitting a deep three – one of his few makes in the first half – off a steal to get back within one possession, but just as they did against Chicago the HEAT always had an answer, Andrew Wiggins nailing a pullup three.

After jamming up the Hawks in those opening minutes, it wasn’t the best Miami had played all season, some make-or-miss – Atlanta missing alley-oops, Miami converting on a couple of odd bounces, a significant three-point disparity – keeping them out in front. By the time Haywood Highsmith saved a ball headed out of bounds for what became a beautiful outlet pass and Tyler Herro three, the lead stretched all the way to 17.

What was different from the Bulls game, however, was Atlanta finding some relief points in transition, including off Miami makes, to sustain them all while their overall percentages sunk below 40 percent. Add a handful of offensive boards and the gap never quite reflected how well the HEAT were shooting, their shot chart green across the board, and by halftime the lead was only nine, Caris LeVert beating the clock with a corner three.

Down to three a couple minutes into the third, an inauspicious start to the half as turnovers got the Hawks out and running, up to 18 fast-break points. Miami had scored only 38 in the second half against Chicago, and they were likely to need more than that to finish this one off.

Back to nine almost as fast as the lead had dwindled, Atlanta missing open threes and Miami pushing off those misses for paint touches and rim attempts. Atlanta wasn’t done, their defense ramping up to force long possessions out of Miami, but when Kyle Anderson touched the ball at the end of those possessions good things happened, a three from the left corner and a two from the right, what was about to be a four-point game still at nine going into the fourth.

Two Hawks threes on what had otherwise been a frigid night, the second from Young on what had been a frigid individual night, had it back to three in less than two minutes. Tied up a couple minutes later, another transition score for Atlanta before they jumped in front, their first lead of the game, on a Young isolation three.

Then it was Hawks by six, Onyeka Okongwu hitting a three up top and finishing off a pick-six with a dunk. Davion Mitchell answered back with a quick three, then Herro (30 points on 21 shots) with back-to-back pullups in the mid-range to put the HEAT back up by one and, for a moment, settle things down.

A couple wild bounces went Miami’s way, a loose rebound tipped way up and in and a loose ball finding its way into the perfect spot for a Haywood Highsmith layup, Miami up one with 19.7 remaining. Herro makes one free-throw, Hawks ball, Miami up two with 11 seconds left. Then Young took a catch at halfcourt and took it in for a layup to tie it up, and it was one to overtime.

Four straight makes from three to open overtime, two from Mitchell and two from Herro, gave Miami a small cushion. By the time Mitchell (16 points on 13 shots) hit his third three of the overtime, after rebounding his own miss, the lead was insurmountable, Miami well on their way to Cleveland. It wasn’t easy but the HEAT take it, 123-114, and survive to play another day. Game 1 is Sunday.

Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell saved the day, no doubt about that.

When Miami fell behind by six in the fourth quarter, it was Mitchell pulling up for a quick three that kickstarted the counterpunch. Then it was Herro going back to the shots he had largely done away with this season, the pull-up mid-range jumpers, one after another after another to keep the HEAT out in front. Those are star shots through and through, and when the HEAT needed offense the most after their offense ran into an iceberg in the first stretch of the final period, Herro was a star.

Overtime was all about threes, Miami making five in all. The two from Herro were hardly shocking, but three from Mitchell was a veritable explosion. Before this season Mitchell had been an average-at-best shooter but after a decent start in Toronto Mitchell has been playing, and shooting, the best ball of his career. So maybe for those who had been watching Mitchell hit big three for the past two months, this wasn’t a surprise. For the rest of NBA landscape, it might have looked like an entirely new player.

The HEAT had been one of the worst teams in the league when it came to clutch three-point shooting this season, well below 30 percent, so from a certain point of view, they were due.

Sometimes, you need a couple bounces to go your way. And when they do, you take it and move on.

Perhaps the two biggest bounces of the season happened for Miami with about two minutes to play in regulation. The first, with Miami up one, came on a missed Haywood Highsmith three, Andrew Wiggins reaching out as far as his right arm could extend, away from the rim, and tipping in a high arcing ball off the glass. Then, a couple possessions later, Atlanta again making a run, Adebayo had the ball knocked out of his hands at the free-throw line as he went up for what looked like a jumper, the ball then ricocheting directly to Highsmith (12 points, 10 rebounds) right under the rim with just enough time for him to one-hand it in for two to beat the shot clock.

Without those two plays, those two odd bounces, Miami may have been down multiple possessions with under a minute to play, the world never knowing the magic that was about to come from Herro and Mitchell. Instead, after seemingly so much had gone wrong in late-game moments for Miami this season, they got two bounces that gave them a chance to save themselves.

Now it’s on to Cleveland. The HEAT lost two and won one game against the Cavaliers this season, but none of those games came with the same rosters each side will bring into this series. Both teams made significant trades at the deadline, both teams will feature different rotations than they’ve used in any of the three previous games – Miami didn’t even have Herro or Kel’el Ware for the last meeting in March when the HEAT nearly stole a win. And with the HEAT and Cavaliers having never met in the playoff before, keep all that in mind as the series is previewed over the next two days. The records are wiped clean, and both from a historical and on-court perspective, everyone starts Sunday with a blank slate.

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By ML Staff. Courtesy of NBA.