Heat-Thunder
The Miami Heat are on a four-game losing streak with a tough schedule ahead of them. The Heat fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-85 and that was the second game of their four-game losing streak. In this game Hassan Whiteside was held to only 5 points, but he did grab 12 rebounds in the game.
The Heat offense could not get hot enough to beat the Thunder because of the explosive way the Thunder play. Only two of the Heat starters would be in double digits in scoring, Luke Babbitt and Goran Dragic would both have 11 points. The Thunder offense would be a different story.
The starters for the Thunder played great, but the player to watch during this game was Enes Kanter. Off the bench Kanter would score 24 points and grab 10 rebounds in the team’s win. He was a big reason the Thunder had a wire to wire lead over the Heat.
Russell Westbrook had a huge game with 14 points and 11 assists. Domantas Sabonis would also have a double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The second leading scorer in the game for the Thunder was Victor Oladipo who would score 17 points in the win.
Heat-Bulls
In Dwyane Wade’s return to Miami the Chicago Bulls came to make a statement and they did. The Bulls would win the game 98-95 and Wade would have a lot to do with that. Wade would finish with 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. The Bulls had 3 other starters in the double figures in scoring.
Jimmy Butler would have 20 points. Robin Lopez would finish with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Rajon Rondo would finish the game with a double double having 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulls bench would contribute 25 points in the win over the Heat.
The Heat had a great game, but they just could not contain the Bulls offense. Hassan Whiteside had a huge night with a double double scoring 20 points and grabbing 20 rebounds. Whiteside would also add 3 blocks to his stat sheet. The Heat had great bench production getting 35 points off the bench.
The Heat could not close out this game well although 3 starters were in double digits in scoring they do not have a player that can close. That is the missing piece for this team and if they do not get one soon they can expect to have a rough season.
Heat-Jazz
The Utah Jazz would blow out the Heat in a 102-91 win. The Jazz were playing great all over the court and the Heat could not stop the great play of the Jazz. The Jazz would lead the game from tip-off to the end and the offense would be the reason why. Gordon Hayward would be the top scorer with 25 points.
Rudy Gobert would finish with a double double scoring 12 points and getting 12 rebounds. Rodney Hood and Dante Exum also had big games contributing 27 combined points. The Jazz also have a deep bench which contributed 32 points in the win.
The Heat got outscored in every quarter except the 4th, but their efforts for a comeback would fall short. Hassan Whiteside would have another double double with 14 rebounds and 15 points. The Heat would have 49 points off the bench which is a positive sign for the team.
Justise Winslow would have an efficient night scoring 11 points and getting 6 rebounds. Miami needs to make adjustments in order to win games against great opponents. They need to figure out which players work better with each other and start looking to move players if need be. Their next game is against the Spurs tonight and they need to come out hot in order to win.