View this post on Instagram
Category: Miami Heat Blog
Heat blog – Miami Heat blog
Justise Winslow recovering slowly from concussion
View this post on Instagram
It’s been a great start to the new season for the Miami Heat. Through Sunday’s games they are 11-4, which ties them for the second best record in the Eastern conference.
Leading the team has been an interesting cast of characters. Small forward Jimmy Butler is the first name to mention. Rookie guards Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro have been key success factors. Goran Dragic, coming off the bench for all 14 games he’s played so far, still contributes starter-like production. Center Bam Adebayo is doing big things, many of which don’t show up on the stat-sheet. Duncan Robinson is hitting shots.
The Heat have an impressive seven players averaging double-digit scoring. But one of those players, Justise Winslow, has played in just five games.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports the following: “After absorbing a hard blow in a collision that left Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap requiring 11 stitches in a Nov. 5 Heat road loss, Winslow entered the NBA’s concussion protocol and has been sidelined since. With the absence against the Hornets, it makes it nine consecutive games missed by the 2015 first-round pick out of Duke. Factoring in the two games he missed prior to the Nuggets game, Winslow has now been out for 11 of the past 12, limited to five appearances.”
The Heat are playing good basketball this season. Hopefully they will be doing so with Winslow active sometime soon. For now, he remains out.
Heat now 9th in Eastern conference
The Heat are 12-16, which through Friday’s games puts them at 9th in the Eastern conference. While expectations for the squad were limited this season, more was expected. Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting on the team as they wrap up an extended road trip:
Dwyane Wade said after the Miami Heat’s embarrassing Wednesday night loss to the Utah Jazz that a team goes into a six-game road trip just looking to go 3-3.
Fast forward to a resilient effort in a 100-97 win against the Memphis Grizzlies and the Heat have clinched that after also starting with wins against the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers.
They face the Pelicans in New Orleans on Sunday with an opportunity to come away with a winning record on the trip.
“It just gets us back on the right foot, and hopefully we have a chance to end this road trip on the right foot, as well,” said Kelly Olynyk after the win Friday in which he had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists and hit four 3-pointers. “For us to come together, especially after that tough loss against Utah, and know what we’re made of and play our game, execute our game, execute a game plan and go into a tough Western Conference team’s building and get a win.”
Heat take break from Vice jerseys
View this post on Instagram
When something is broke, you fix it. Even if that means taking a break from wearing extremely cool jerseys. Even if losing games probably had nothing to do with which jerseys were being worn. Now that you have surely gained a wealth of clarity from those sentences, here’s the Miami Herald with a Heat update:
The Miami Heat has apparently given up on trying to win in the Vice Nights jerseys for now. The Heat’s Friday game against the New Orleans Pelicans was scheduled to be the seventh straight home game for Miami to wear its black alternate jerseys, but when the Heat arrived on the court — still the Vice-themed variant Miami has used — the Heat donned its typical red and black warmups. A team spokesman said the team made a last-minute decision to wear red, instead.
The Vice Nights jerseys drew plenty of attention for Miami, but also coincided with a recent home losing streak. The Heat (7-13) debuted the black, pink and blue jerseys Nov. 9 against the Indiana Pacers and haven’t won at AmericanAirlines Arena since. Miami is 0-6 while wearing the alternate jerseys
And here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel on the situation:
The Heat had the Vice Nights black jerseys in their locker stalls during the media viewing period just an hour prior to Friday night’s game.
The team continued to play on the special Vice Nights court trimmed in pink and blue pastels, again opening with the team’s special Vice Nights introduction video.
Goran Dragic remains out for Heat
The Heat will be without Goran Dragic tonight as they face the Hawks. They still should be able to win, because, they’re playing… the Hawks. But it will still be nice when Dragic finally returns from an injury that is lingering a bit longer than expected. Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting:
Goran Dragic’s seemingly minor knee issue has extended into a major absence with the Miami Heat point guard out for a fifth consecutive game Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Dragic initially missed two games with the knee injury before returning for an uneven four-game span that included pair of 20-point games but also pair of games when he went scoreless in one and scored eight in the other.
He has been out since, starting with the Nov. 18 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. He then had his knee drained the following day, missing the Heat’s just-concluded two-game trip against the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors.
Josh Richardson fined for shoe toss
 |
Miami Heat guard Josh Richardson has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for throwing his shoe into the stands, according to Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations Kiki VanDeWeghe
The incident resulted in Richardson receiving a technical foul and an ejection from the game. It happened with 6:31 remaining in the fourth quarter during Miami’s game against Los Angeles Lakers on November 18 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Heat lost the game, 113-97.
According to ESPN.com, Richardson had this to say after the game: “I don’t want to talk about it. It was a series of events… I got caught up.”
Dwyane Wade out on paternity leave
The Miami Heat are 5-7 this season and while they’re focused on winning now and in the coming seasons as they hope to pivot towards being a contender, the season is also a celebration of the career of Dwyane Wade, who will hang up his sneakers at the end of 2018-19. Of course, D-Wade is still playing, and competing, averaging 14.3 points in 25.7 minutes per game. But after each final buzzer, fans in Miami but also around the league are aware that they’re waving goodbye to Wade, at least as an NBA player. But Wade hasn’t actually been on the court lately. He’s on paternity leave. Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting:
The paternity leave of Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade will extend for another week, with the guard in Los Angeles with his newborn daughter.
After missing the past three games, Wade posted an Instagram photo Sunday that he was in Los Angeles.
Asked last week if Wade would be taking a paternity leave, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “It’s day to day, but as much time as he needs.”
Wade has missed the past three games, a victory over the San Antonio Spurs and losses to the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards.
Another 20-rebound game for Hassan Whiteside
The Miami Heat are just 5-6 this season, which is the 9th best record in the Eastern conference through Friday’s games. But on a positive note, lately they’ve enjoyed some monster rebounding outputs from Hassan Whiteside. Here’s the Miami Herald reporting:
Josh Richardson was incredulous, but not necessarily surprised to hear the actual numbers to go along with Hassan Whiteside’s performance in the Miami Heat’s 110-102 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday. For the second straight game, Whiteside pulled in 20 rebounds and hearing this number once again caused Richardson’s eyes to widen and seek confirmation from no one in particular.
“He had 20 rebounds again?” Richardson said in the Heat’s locker room after the game Friday. “He’s locked in right now. He’s bringing a lot of good things to the table.”
Even before this four-game homestand began Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs in Miami, Whiteside sat behind only Detroit Pistons post player Andre Drummond on the NBA leaderboards for rebounds per game and the center’s first two games back at AmericanAirlines Arena have caused his numbers to balloon. For the first time in his career, Whiteside recorded 20 rebounds in back-to-back games, lifting his average per game to 15.7 entering a Saturday home game against the Washington Wizards, up from 14.6 per game when the homestand began. Early on, he’s on pace to break his own single-season franchise record of 14.1 rebounds per game, set during the 2016-17 season.
Miami Heat expanding the Vice theme this season
I’m all in on any Vice-related themes the Miami Heat utilize this season and beyond. So, there’s some good news, from the Miami Herald:
The Heat is expanding its Vice campaign to include a Vice-themed court this season.
After unveiling its black “Vice Nights” City Edition uniform Monday, the Heat unveiled a new court Tuesday to go along with the very Miami look. The Heat will play on the Vice-themed court in the 14 home games it’s scheduled to wear the alternate uniforms…
This season’s black uniform is “with the classic Heat silhouette from 1988 colored in laser fuchsia and blue gale, and features the original Miami Arena script across the chest and a re-imagined Heat ball and flame logo sporting the Vice Nights color combination,” according to a press release issued by the team.
And here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel with more:
The twist this season is that there will be the matching court as part of the theme.
“That’s the coolest thing,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “It’s not just the jersey, but to be able to go all in, all the way around. That makes it even more a special night, when we get the opportunity to get on the court.
“I think it’s going to bring some excitement to even the players. So it will be cool to the fans, definitely, to come in and feel a different environment, a different vibe. So look forward to it.”
Coolness.
Heat waive Jarnell Stokes, Briante Weber, Rodney Purvis and Raphiael Putney
The Miami HEAT have waived Jarnell Stokes, Briante Weber, Rodney Purvis and Raphiael Putney.
Purvis, who was signed on October 6, appeared in one preseason game on October 12 vs. Atlanta, totaling two steals in 4:44 minutes of action.
Putney, who was signed on October 6, appeared in one preseason game on October 12 vs. Atlanta, totaling one rebound in 4:44 minutes of action.
Stokes, who was signed on August 27, appeared in three preseason games, averaging 5.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.00 steals and 11.2 minutes while shooting 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from the field.
Weber, who was signed on August 21, appeared in five preseason games, averaging 9.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.60 steals, 1.8 rebounds and 16.4 minutes while shooting 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from the field, 57.1 percent (4-of-7) from three-point range and 83.3 percent (15-of-18) from the foul line.
The HEAT’s roster now stands at 14, plus two two-way contracts.