ATLANTA _ The Miami Heat's three-day break in between games involved a lot of talk and work involving defense. But that theme didn't continue into Saturday's game.
Just offense, and plenty of it.
In a game that included 241 points and 29 made threes between the two teams, the Heat (3-5) fell to the rebuilding Hawks 123-118 at State Farm Arena on Saturday. Miami has now dropped three straight games.
Atlanta (3-6) led by as many as 15 points, but Miami rallied to take a one-point lead with 6:41 to play. But the Hawks took over from there, outscoring the Heat 13-7 the rest of the way to hold on for the win.
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This wasn't the defensive performance the Heat were hoping for after allowing 123 points in Monday's loss to the Sacramento Kings and 125 points in Tuesday's loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Miami allowed Atlanta to score 123 on 52.3 percent shooting.
Rookie guard Trae Young led the Hawks with 24 points and 15 assists.
Josh Richardson was the Heat's offensive leader once again, finishing with a career-high 32 points on 10 of 18 shooting. It's the second time in less than a week that the 25-year-old wing player has set a new career-high in points, as he also did it with 31 points in Monday's loss to the Kings.
While Richardson was scoring a career-high, Heat reserve guard Tyler Johnson finished with a season-high 17 points after a quiet start to the year. Johnson's best minutes of the season came in the second quarter when he scored 15 on 6-of-7 shooting in the period.
The Heat will try to avoid a winless three-game trip when it closes the stretch Monday in Detroit against the Pistons.
