The Atlanta Hawks entered Game 3 with the Miami Heat on Friday evening needing a victory to avoid finding themselves working against all of NBA history as to have any hope to threaten winning the first round series. No team in playoff history has come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a series. Considering this is a 1-seed vs. 8-seed series, the mathematical probability would have been beyond the threshold of any remote expectation apart from finding a way to be victorious in Game 3.
It was slipping away in the third quarter as Miami went on a dominant 21-0 run to establish a 16-point lead with two minutes and change left in the period.