Miami Heat Falter Late in Game 3 Loss To The Atlanta Hawks

Trae Young's late floater pulls the Hawks to within 2-1 in the series.

At one point, the Miami Heat appeared they were headed to a 3-0 series lead. 

And then they reverted to their late-game struggles from the past.

The Heat rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit with a 21-0 run midway through the third quarter only to fall 111-110 Friday against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of their first-round Eastern Conference series. The Heat are still ahead 2-1 in the series.  

Guard Trae Young scored the winning basket on a floater with 4.4 seconds remaining. The Heat had one more chance but Jimmy Butler missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer. 

The Heat thought they were in a good shape after P.J. Tucker put them ahead by making a corner 3-pointer with 53 seconds left. 

The game started nearly an hour after the supposed 7 p.m. tip-off after a suspicious package was found near the arena. Official cleared the area before it was determined the package had no bomb-threatening material. 

According to a statement released by the Hawks, "“The contents of the package were not found to be explosive and the package was safely removed by the Atlanta Bomb Squad.”

After opening strong, the Heat found themselves down 61-54 at intermission. A Max Strus 3-pointer, which tied the score at 68, was part of the big run. The Hawks tied the game at 101 on Trae Young's 3-point play with 3 minutes 33 seconds remaining before the exciting finish. 

MORE HEAT RELATED ARTICLES

Gabe Vincent holding his own against Trae Young. CLICK HERE

Trae Young criticizes the officiating in the series. CLICK HERE

Jimmy Butler comes up big in Game 2. CLICK HERE

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here