Hawks Beat Heat, 98-85 ; Returns To Playoffs for 7th Straight Year Abner Jackson III Monday, April 14, 2014 Feature, Scoreboard, Sports, The Game Photo courtesy of www.hawksbasketblog.com The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Miami Heat 98-85 to clinch the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. This victory helped the Hawks make the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons and gives them the longest active postseason streak in the Eastern Conference. Jeff Teague led the Hawks with a team-high 25 points and game-high 4 steals. Atlanta’s raised Louis Williams came off the bench to score 23 points and made all four of his three-point attempts for the Hawks. DeMarre Carroll had an all-around game with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals for Atlanta. LeBron James had a game-high 27 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists for the Heat. Dwyane Wade scored 24 points after returning from missing the previous nine games. The Heat was tied with the Hawks at halftime and only scored 13 points in the third quarter. The Heat shot poorly from downtown and the charity stripe, they shot 47% from the free-throw line compared to the Hawks 84% and made 24% of their three-pointers compared to the Hawks 45.5%. The Heat and Hawks split the season series with Miami winning the first two matchups and Atlanta winning the last two matchups. Photo courtesy of www.nba.com Atlanta improves to 37-43 and Miami is now 54-26. The Heat trail the Indiana Pacers by half a game for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Whoever finishes with best record the Hawks will face in the first round. The Hawks will be without leading scorer Al Horford for the playoffs. Horford only appeared in 29 games this season. The Hawks split the season series with the Pacers, so the Hawks should be able to win at least two games regardless of their first round opponent.
