D-WADE SCORES 41 AS HEAT ROUT HAWKS TO FORCE GAME 7

Apparently content in the knowledge that they had the margin of error provided by a decisive game 7 on their home court, the Atlanta Hawks put forth a horrible performance against the Miami Heat on Friday night.  Dwayne Wade ripped the Hawks for 41 points as the Heat easily won game six 98-72 to tie the series at 3-3.  Game 7 will take place Sunday afternoon at Atlanta’s Phillips Arena with the winner moving on to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round.

The Hawks have been a terrible road team in their most recent playoff experiences, and Friday night’s loss was their 13^th in their last 14 postseason away games.  Miami led 32-18 after the first quarter and were never really challenged after that.  Dwayne Wade led all scorers with 41 points, while Michael Beasley contributed a ‘double/double’ off the bench with 22 points and 15 rebounds.  James Jones scored 11 points to round out Miami’s double digit scoring attack.  Mike Bibby led the listless Hawks with 20 points, while Ronald Murray and Joe Johnson added 13 apiece.

After the game, a stoic Dwayne Wade had little to say:

“Strictly about business.  Now we move on.  No pressure on us," Wade said. "We're the underdogs in this series."

Atlanta coach Mike Woodson restated the obvious:

"They did what they had to do tonight and played extremely well. We were just there."

None of the games in the series have been close, with each team winning once on the road.  The closest of the six games was a 10 point Atlanta win, with three of the six games producing 20+ point blowouts.  The Hawks will face a game 7 situation for the second time in two years, having lost on the road to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics last year.  Atlanta’s Josh Smith gave his thoughts on Sunday’s decisive game:

"Game 7. That speaks for itself. It's two young teams that want the same thing. We're going to have to come out focused and with energy. Hopefully, we'll answer the challenge."

Joe Johnson suggested that his team was looking forward to prevailing on their home court:

"We came into this with home court advantage. And now we have that opportunity to finish it in our house."

Regardless of the ultimate winner in the Hawks/Heat series, the greatest beneficiary of the seven game affair will be the Cleveland Cavaliers.  The Cavs finished their series sweep of the Detroit Pistons last Sunday, giving them a break of over a week between their first and second round series.