Miami Heat Weekly: Opening Week
Last Week’s Record: 1-2 (1-2 Overall)
Tuesday vs. Chicago Bulls – Win (107 -95)
Most of the Miami Heat team spoke of the ring ceremony as a distraction because they wanted to forget about last year and focus on the prospect of a three-peat. But it didn’t seem like they had much trouble getting ready for Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls as they ran away 107-95 winners in a game where the lead was up to 25 points at one point.
Despite opening the scoring thanks to a fast break set up by Mario Chalmers’ thievery, Miami fell behind 9-2 as neither team was able to efficiently make shots, particularly the home team as they went 0-for-8 after Udonis Haslem’s fastbreak jam. However, the Heat’s “Pace and Space crew” with Shane Battier at the 4 spot blew the game wide open as Miami ended the first quarter with a 15- 6 run.
The second quarter started off in similar fashion with Shane Battier continuing to shoot lights out from beyond the arc and Miami soon had the crowd in a frenzy with a 17-0 run which helped the defending champions to a 54-33 lead at the half.
Even with the huge deficit, Chicago still managed to fight back and cut Miami’s lead down to eight points late in the fourth quarter thanks in large to the 30 fast break points off 20 turnovers by the Heat
However Miami themselves did force 19 turnovers and–perhaps more importantly–were able to keep pace with Chicago on the boards as they grabbed 40 rebounds compared to the Bulls’ 41. That was significant because last year the Heat were the worst rebounding team with 38.6 boards and Chicago was in the top 10 with 43.2 rebounds per game.
The win can only be described as a complete team performance with seven players had at least 11 points in the contest and the Heat bench added 42 points with Shane Battier leading the way with 14 points and shooting 4-for-4 from 3-point range.
Wednesday @ Philadelphia 76ers – Loss (114-100)
Perhaps still hung up on the outstanding performance from the night before, against Chicago, the Heat came out firing blanks and quickly found themselves in a 19-0 hole. And with Dwyane Wade kept out as a precaution, it was up to the two-thirds of the “Big 3” to close the deficit.
For the most part, they did well; adding a double-double each as LeBron James finished with 25 points and 13 assists while Chris Bosh added 22 points and 10 rebounds to bring Miami back into the game. And by the end of the third quarter, the Miami Heat were up by nine points. Unfortunately, they simply couldn’t overcome Philadelphia’s hot start and youthful exuberance prevailed.
Rookie Michael Carter-Williams ran amok on the Heat offense as he finished the game with a rookie record nine steals and was flirting with a quadruple double as he also amassed 22 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds in his NBA regular season debut.
Sure, he stole show but the 6’6” point guard was just one part of a three-headed monster Miami just couldn’t contain as Evan Turner also added 26 points–including a facial in LeBron James’ face–while Spencer Hawes was nearly unstoppable with a 10-for-14 shooting performance on his way to 24 points in the game.
Shane Battier was nowhere to be found as he failed to emulate his 4-for-4 performance from the night before, ending the night without a single make on seven 3-point attempts. Roger Mason Jr. was no help either, as he struggled to fill in for Wade and was quickly replaced by the sharp shooting Ray Allen who, along with Mario Chalmers, contributed 35 points to the Heat cause but it was to no avail.
Friday at Brooklyn Nets – Loss (101-100)
Miami faced off against the Brooklyn Nets in front of a sold out Barclays Centre, as the teams met for the first meaningful contest of the new rivalry and it was the Nets who managed to outlast the Heat in a game that went all the way down to the wire, despite some sloppy play.
The first half was turnovers galore as both teams coughed the ball up on numerous occasions (Brooklyn 10, Miami 9 to be exact), but it was the Heat who found themselves worse off after yet another slow start; making it the third time in as many games they had quickly found themselves in a hole. Nonetheless, just as they did against Chicago and Philadelphia, they clawed their way back into the game and even managed to tie the match by the end of the half.
Thanks to some unselfish team play, the Nets were able to repeatedly breakdown Miami’s stellar defense which was unable to keep up with the ball movement and often left players open as the rotations were late most of the time. That combined with just two turnovers in the third quarter and continued domination of the boards led to Brooklyn opening up a 14-point lead at one point.
Yet Miami was still able to forge a comeback as they were creating havoc with their defense again, forcing Brooklyn into seven turnovers in the fourth quarter which aided them in their come back from a double-digit deficit.
Dwyane Wade was back in the lineup after missing the second game and was in attack mode as he got to the foul line again and again. This was thanks to his aggression as well as his pump fakes which repeatedly got Brooklyn defenders in the air, thus leaving them in precarious positions, and Wade took full advantage of the freebies, making all but one of his 11 attempts on his way to 21 points. Flash even added a corner 3-pointer with 50 seconds left to cut the Nets lead to five.
Nevertheless, it was all for naught as a pair of free throws each, from Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson went on to seal the game in the dying seconds after Ray Allen was unable to dip into his clutch reserve, as he missed a crucial free throw with 7.9 seconds to go.
Paul Pierce had a good game overall, but the second half was when he decided to put the game on his shoulders as the Truth scored the 17 of his 19 points in the final 24 minutes. Such play further backed up his statement to ESPN that he feels like Miami is the kid from down the street who has taken their shiny toy and they want it back.
Looking Forward
Next up
Sunday vs Washington Wizards
Tuesday at Toronto Raptors
Thursday vs L.A. Clippers
What to watch for
Miami’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers is bound to be a highlight factory and is a matchup you do not want to miss.
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