Category: Miami Heat Blog

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Heat beat Pacers, improve record to 23-8

Despite the Pacers missing point guard Malcolm Brogdon, while awaiting the eventual return of shooting guard Victor Oladipo, Friday’s matchup between the Pacers and Heat was still an anticipated battle worth watching. The game proved worthy of attention. Here’s the Miami Herald reporting:

In a game that included 20 lead changes and eight ties, the Heat (23-8) survived to defeat the Indiana Pacers 113-112 on Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena. Miami improved to 14-1 at home this season, and 23-8 marks its best 31-game start to a season since starting 24-7 in 2013-14.

With the Heat trailing by one with less than a minute to play, guard Goran Dragic made a 9-foot game-winning floater with 6.8 seconds remaining. Offensive rebounds from Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler kept Miami’s final offensive possession alive before Dragic hit the shot.

In the win, the Heat had six players put up double-digit points. They were led by Jimmy Butler’s 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists, Bam Adebayo’s 18 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, Duncan Robinson’s 18 points, and Kendrick Nunn’s 17 points.

The Pacers had seven players score double-digits, and put up a respectable effort.

Heat reportedly ready to move on from Dion Waiters

The Heat have suspended shooting guard Dion Waiters three times this season. They haven’t actually used his services as a basketball player. And the two sides may just call it a wrap and see about moving on.

Here’s the Miami Herald:

The Heat is actively exploring avenues to extricate itself of guard Dion Waiters, but Waiters – at this point – opposes giving up any of the money he’s owed to achieve that, according to a source briefed on the situation…

The Heat is open to a buyout of the final year-and-a-half of his contract, but Waiters at this point has been disinclined to accept anything less than $12.1 million he’s owed this year and the $12.7 million he’s due to make next season.

That $12.1 million salary for this season has been reduced by $1.4 million because of the three suspensions, which cover 17 games.

The Heat have been terrific this season. The addition of Jimmy Butler has been a complete success. It’s a shame to waste big salary money on a player that isn’t being utilized, but when a team has a winning situation, they need to protect it.

In battle of East contenders, Celtics beat Heat 112-93

In a must-watch game of upper Eastern conference teams Wednesday, the Boston Celtics handed the Miami Heat a loss.

The Boston Herald had this to say:

Miami came in with a homewrecking reputation. The Heat was the first road team to win in Milwaukee and Toronto this year — the latter on Tuesday night.

And when the Celtics fell behind by 11 points in the second quarter last night, the locals appeared headed down a familiar path. Ultimately, they remain undefeated at home.

By the time Jaylen Brown had hit his sixth 3-pointer with just under six minutes left last night, though, the threat was cleared away. The Celtics beat Miami, 112-93, with the wing forward scoring a season-high 31 points — one shy of tying his career high. Brown also spent most of his night chasing and being chased by Miami’s Jimmy Butler.

The latter, who has led the Heat’s hot start, led both sides with 37 points and six 3-pointers.

The best East teams early this season have been the Bucks, followed in no particular order by the Raptors, Celtics, Sixers and Heat. Anytime any of these teams play each other is must-watch. And once the Pacers have Victor Oladipo back in action, they’ll be in that mix as well. They’re almost there right now.

A must-watch NBA game tonight: Heat vs Celtics

The Miami Heat (15-5) visit the Boston Celtics (14-5) tonight in a game that definitely has our interest. Each team’s most recent game results are below.

THE MOST RECENT HEAT GAME

MIAMI HEAT 121, TORONTO RAPTORS 110 [OT] (12/3/19)

The Miami HEAT became the first team to get a win in Toronto this season after defeating the Raptors, 121-110, in overtime. Miami shot 54.2 percent from the field in the first as they took a nine-point, 32-23, lead after one. Toronto was able to cut the HEAT lead by four in the second as Miami held a five-point, 58-53, lead at the half. The Raptors shot 58.8 percent from the field in the third, again cutting the HEAT lead, this time to two, 83-81, entering the fourth quarter. Miami held their lead throughout the fourth until Toronto took a one-point, 108-107, lead with 43.2 seconds remaining. Jimmy Butler would hit 1-of-2 free throws on the HEAT’s next possession as each team missed their final shots, sending the game into overtime. Butler began overtime quickly scoring the first eight points as Miami went on to outscore the Raptors 13-2 in the quarter to take the, 121-100, victory. Butler finished with a 22-point, 13-rebound, 12-assist triple-double as Duncan Robinson scored 22 and Justise Winslow added 17 off the bench. Norman Powell led Toronto with 23.

THE MOST RECENT CELTICS GAME

BOSTON 113, NEW YORK 104 – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (12/1/19)

The Celtics turned up the defense in the fourth quarter as they came from behind to beat the Knicks 113-104 at MSG…Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 30 points to go along with a career-high seven assists while Jaylen Brown added 28 points and five boards…Kemba Walker picked up his first double-double with 16 points and 10 assists while Enes Kanter also added a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds…The Knicks were led by Julius Randle and his 26 points and five rebounds while Dennis Smith Jr. added 17 points and seven assists off the bench.

Justise Winslow recovering slowly from concussion

 

 

 

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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.”

Full article

Heat take break from Vice jerseys

 

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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

— Full Article

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.

— Full Article

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

Josh Richardson fined for throwing shoe into stands

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.”