East's Best: Atlanta Hawks Clinch Top Seed With 99-86 Win Over Miami Heat

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Miami Heat, 99-86 on Friday night to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Led by DeMarre Carroll, who finished with 24 points and Paul Millsap, who had 21 points and 9 rebounds, the Hawks assure themselves of home court advantage, at least in the postseason battle in their own conference.

The Heat never had a chance against the East’s best in this night. Despite playing without starting point guard and All-Star Jeff Teague, the Hawks raced to an early 12-3 lead about halfway into the opening quarter and grabbed the 27-20 advantage at the end of the first. They continued to dominate in the second quarter and got the 55-37 lead at halftime and never looked back in the second half.

Dennis Schroder, who filled in at the starting PG spot, filled in nicely for Teague as he finished with 12 points and 11 assists. Al Horford added 15 points on an efficient 7-of-9 shooting to lead the impressive 51.4 percent field goal shooting (37/72 FGs) for the Hawks.

The Heat were led by Luol Deng’s 17 points and 10 rebounds while Dwyane Wade (13 points) and Goran Dragic (6 points) struggled to combine for just 8-of-24 field goal shooting.

As the number one team in the East, there’s a strong possibility that the Hawks will face the Heat again in the postseason. Miami dropped to 33-39 for the year for seventh in the conference and are battling the likes of the Boston Celtics (32-40), Brooklyn Nets (32-40), Indiana Pacers (31-41) and Charlotte Bobcats (30-41) for postseason slots.

With 10 games to go in the regular season, the Hawks (55-17) appears they won’t catch up with the Golden State Warriors (59-13) for the best record in the league but nonetheless continue their impressive run in being one of the contenders in the East.

After a three-game skid in losses against Golden State, Oklahoma City and San Antonio, Atlanta has now won back-to-back against Orlando and Miami. The Heat have lost three of its last four games.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au