Heat-Spurs
The Miami Heat have not been playing good basketball early on this season. They are facing some of the tougher teams in the league, but they have been showing signs of getting better. The Spurs are no joke and they continued to show the Heat that in their most recent matchup.
The Heat would lose 94-90 and that is because of a lack of ball distribution. The Heat only had 3 players in double figures in scoring in total, but the Spurs would have 5 players in double figures with 4 of them being starters. Hassan Whiteside would have a double double with 23 points and 17 rebound, but once again his effort could not win the game for the Heat.
Heat-Hawks
The Heat would play the Atlanta Hawks and lose another close game 93-90. Whiteside would have another huge night grabbing 25 rebounds and scoring 19 points. Once again the Heat hurt themselves during that game with a team shooting percentage of 40.4% while the Hawks were shooting 46.3% on the game.
Miami’s lack of bench production is a primary cause of why they are losing. The Heat only had 27 points off the bench while the Hawks would have 33 points off the bench. That six point margin loomed large in the final score. Miami needs to start getting better production off of their bench or risk losing games.
Heat-Bucks
The Heat would bounce back and win a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. This was a great performance by the Heat because they never gave up the momentum they had. In the first quarter the Heat were down 27-21, but they would come back in the second quarter and tie the game up at 48 going into halftime.
After that the Heat would hold the Bucks to 14 points in the third quarter, and 11 points in the fourth to capture a 96-73 victory. The Heat would dominate in the second half and that is what they need to continue to do.
The Heat still had a problem with bench production in this game. The bench would only score 25 points in total, but that would not slow down the starters. Dion Waiters was the top scorer in the game having 23 points. He would also have some help from Whiteside who would have another double double with 12 points and 17 rebounds.
The Heat would still have a poor shooting percentage with 40.2%, but they would be bail out by the Bucks who shot 32.9% on the night. The Heat needed that win to possibly get on a roll and back in the playoff picture.
Heat-Wizards
The Heat would win 2 in a row by beating the Washington Wizards in a close game winning 114-111. The Heat starters were on fire with everyone scoring in double figures. The team shot 50.6% in a game in which not much defense was played on both ends.
Washington shot 47.7% on the night. If the Heat can keep this type of performance up by outscoring teams they can become more dynamic as a team. This Heat team needs to prove that they can work well in the tough division they are in or they could end up having a bad season, and missing the playoffs.