The Hawks suffered another unwelcome injury before the game. Bogdan Bogdanovic was sidelined with a left lower leg contusion that kept him out for two games before this game with the Miami Heat.

Dyson Daniels was added to the injured list late due to illness and unfortunately also had to miss the game. In his place, Vit Krejci came into the starting line-up.

Atlanta used great defensive play to find transition points early in the first quarter.

But the injuries created a makeshift bench unit with Keaton Wallace at the helm, and that unit struggled to generate offense.

A little later, Trae Young and Jalen Johnson entered the court and initiated the Hawks’ attack.

Trae Young had seven assists in the first period alone, including finding Garrison Mathews in the corner for this three-point-and-1 opportunity.

After one quarter, the Hawks led 35-28 with two of those points coming on a buzzer-beater when Larry Nance Jr. found a cut along the baseline for an easy throw-in. Both De’Andre Hunter and Garrison Mathews scored eight points off the bench in the period.

Within the first two minutes of the second quarter, Jalen Johnson suffered his third foul and was benched. That was a bad sign for an already struggling team.

But the Hawks maintained a solid lead of about five points until midway through the second quarter.

After a bit of heat, the Hawks put their big guns back in play and experienced a bit of heat of their own. In the middle of it all came this thunderous mist from an unexpected source.

Jalen Johnson didn’t slow down despite the three fouls and Trae Young didn’t forget how to pass the ball either.

At halftime the Hawks led 61-58. Johnson had 12 points, including eight in the second quarter after picking up those fouls, while Trae Young led all players with 11 assists.

The third quarter continued to be up and down, with neither team able to take a big lead at any point.

Until Mathews and Hunter decided to keep shooting the ball and put the Hawks up by nine.

The extra spacing between Hunter, Mathews and Larry Nance Jr. helped open up the entire court, and the Hawks maintained some spacing into the final period.

After three quarters, Atlanta held a 93-84 lead, the largest lead either team had up to that point.

Atlanta kept the pressure on, relying on solid team defense and offensive rebounds to win the battle of possession. Jalen Johnson also scored his 21st, 22nd and 23rd points on this triple in front of the Heat bench.

While the refereeing obviously got under the Hawks’ skin, De’Andre Hunter vented some of his frustration over that big four-point play.

However, Atlanta couldn’t shake the heat and a dogfight ensued in the final stretch of this game. Head coach Quin Snyder decided to finish with his best shooting formation: Trae Young-Garrison Mathews-De’Andre Hunter-Jalen Johnson-Larry Nance Jr.

The Hawks largely held up defensively – the biggest problem with a lineup like this – and managed to draw a few fouls while attacking the basket. They were ahead 112-107 with two minutes to play.

Thenceforth. The Heat never really challenged the Hawks and turned away difficult jumpers down the stretch. In direct comparison, the Hawks executed wide-open balls like this dump-off pass to Nance.

From there, the Hawks took the win 120-110.

Jalen Johnson had a monster performance of 28 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists on the night. Trae Young added 11 points and 15 assists. De’Andre Hunter scored 26 points off the bench to continue his Sixth Man of the Year campaign.

Atlanta will take a quick turnaround and head north of the border to face the Toronto Raptors tomorrow night.