October 29, 2026 at 3:27 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Heat Finally Get Off the Mat, Beat Hawks 129-117 to Avoid 0-5

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Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 18 rebounds as Miami ended a four-game losing streak in Atlanta.

Miami arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday night with an 0-4 record and a home loss to Dallas still fresh, and it left with a 129-117 win over the Hawks. Nobody in the visiting locker room could pretend this was a minor stop on the schedule. A fifth straight loss would have turned a bad start into a crisis, and the Heat played like a team that knew it. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 18 rebounds, and Davion Mitchell added a double-double of his own, 10 points and 10 assists.

Atlanta had its own business to fix. The Hawks were 2-2 after losing twice to Houston, the latest on Monday, and they came home hoping their own building would settle things. It didn't. Kingston Flemings scored 23 in 28 minutes off the bench and Nickeil Alexander-Walker matched him with 23 as a starter, but Atlanta never got enough stops to make Miami uncomfortable for long. The 12-point final reflects a Heat team that kept getting what it wanted.

The Antetokounmpo-Bam Adebayo pairing has drawn plenty of skepticism, and a lot of it has been fair. On this night the two put up 24 points apiece, with Adebayo adding nine rebounds, and the two of them took the pressure off each other. One game won't answer the questions about how they fit, but it was a cleaner look than Miami has offered so far. The Heat, who came in ranked among the league's worst in offensive rating, also got 18 from Andrew Wiggins, 17 and eight assists from Pelle Larsson, and 14 from Tim Hardaway Jr. in 22 minutes. Klay Thompson managed only three points in 17 minutes, and Miami hardly needed more.

Atlanta had come in after two straight games of poor shooting against Houston, and it never found a rhythm that could pull the game back. Jalen Johnson did what he could as the distributor, with 12 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists in a team-high 36 minutes. He finished one rebound short of the triple-double that has eluded him this season, a year after he was among the league leaders in them. Dyson Daniels had seven assists, and Jock Landale gave the Hawks 10 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes. Atlanta has a quick turnaround to clean things up, while Miami at least gets to work on its problems with a win in hand.

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