Trae Young, Clint Capela lead Hawks to No. 7 seed, first-round date with Celtics

With a 116-105 play-in victory over the Miami Heat on Tuesday, the Atlanta Hawks have clinched the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference and the right to face off against the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the playoffs. 

Save for a big Miami run to end the first half that extended into the third quarter, the Hawks controlled this game from start to finish. Here are three takeaways from the matchup between Miami and the Hawks. 

1. Tempo, Tempo, Tempo

Atlanta came into this game knowing it needed to play fast, attacking as often as possible before Miami could set its defense, and they did exactly that. It helped that Miami couldn’t make a shot outside of Kyle Lowry, and Atlanta took advantage by pushing in transition for quick 3s and finishes in the paint, where the Hawks outscored Miami 64-46. 

In the half court, Atlanta, which typically has a terrible tendency to devolve into one-pass isolations, played up tempo all night, rarely stagnating and making quick moves off the dribble and catch. Trae Young, who finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, was decisive and in control, and Miami never fully got set defensively as Atlanta was a beat faster on both primary and secondary downhill actions. 

“Playing faster is a big thing for Coach Q [Snyder], and wanting to get more threes up and wanting to play more in transition is his focus,” Young said in his postgame interview with TNT. “We’re still learning that, and we’re still gonna keep getting better at it, but I think we did a good job today.”

That has to continue against Boston if the Hawks are going to have any chance of making that a series. Boston will smother the Hawks if Young starts dribbling in place as everyone else stands around. Move!

2. Clint Capela rules

It’s not often that the most impactful player on the floor ends up with four points on three shots, but Capela dominated this game on the glass with 21 rebounds, including eight offensive, two more than Miami logged as a team. 

It was the story of the game with Atlanta, which has been a monster offensive rebounding team since Quin Snyder took over, beating up Miami 22-6 on the offensive glass en route to a 20-6 advantage in second-chance points. Do the math, and that’s a 14-point discrepancy in an 11-point win. 

That’s your game. 

3. As for the Heat …

Miami sported one of the league’s worst offenses all season. Take away Lowry, who made 6-of-9 from 3-point land for 33 points, and the Heat went 5-for-25 from deep. Jimmy Butler missed a handful of bunnies at the rim, going 6-for-19 overall. 

Bam Adebayo was 5-for-12 for 12 points in being completely outplayed by Capela. Tyler Herro made it a point to attack Young to start the second half and finished with 25 points, but he couldn’t get the 3-ball going either. Bottom line, Miami just doesn’t have the offensive firepower to overcome all the second-chance points they gave up. 

The Heat will get one more shot at a playoff spot in a win-or-go-home game on Friday against the winner of the Raptors-Bulls 9-10 matchup.