(My Sportsbook) - The scene shifts to sunny South Beach on Sunday as the
Atlanta Hawks and
Miami Heat meet in the pivotal Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals series.
Miami bounced back from a poor opening game in the series to earn a split in Atlanta after Dwyane Wade finished with 33 points, seven assists and five rebounds on Wednesday, as the Heat evened the set with a 108-93 Game 2 win over Atlanta.
In Game 1 of the series on Sunday, Wade scored only 19 points and committed eight turnovers as the fifth-seeded Heat were blown out by the fourth-seeded Hawks, 90-64. However, Wade rebounded on Wednesday and finished with six of the Heat's 15 three-pointers, a Miami playoff record.
"I just came in early and shot the ball, got my kinks out," Wade said. "Got a feel for the rim over the last couple days in practice. I was happy that I had a breakout shooting night."
Daequan Cook made 6-of-9 three-pointers and ended with 20 points off the bench for the Heat, while Jermaine O'Neal added 19 points. Udonis Haslem made a couple key jumpers down the stretch and scored 10 total points.
Mike Bibby had a team-high 18 points for the Hawks, while Josh Smith ended with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Al Horford also had a double-double, with 11 points and 11 boards, in the loss.
"He made some shots, but I don't think that was the killer factor," Atlanta head coach Mike Woodson said of Wade. "We let their bench really play a major role in the game tonight."
The win was huge for Erik Spoelstra's team, wrestling away home-court advantage from a Hawks club that struggles mightily on the road in the postseason.
Atlanta has not won a road playoff game in nearly 12 years, dropping 11 straight postseason contests as the visitor.
The Hawks, who finished the regular season at 47-35, their best mark since recording 50 victories in the 1997-98 season, are in the postseason for the second consecutive year.
Atlanta put quite a scare into the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics last season before faltering in the seventh game during the first round. The Hawks won all three games during that series in Atlanta, but were a different team in Beantown, losing by 23, 19, 25 and 34 points.
The Heat, meanwhile, haven't done much postseason-wise since winning their first NBA title in 2006. They were swept in four games in the first round the following year by the Chicago Bulls, then missed out last season after a lowly 15-67 campaign which was marred by injuries to Wade, who led the NBA in scoring this past season with 30.2 points per game.
These two teams have met in the postseason one time previously and the Hawks won that set, 3-2, in 1994.
Game 4 is set for Monday in Miami.