Miami Heat: Life After Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh Begins With Win
The Miami Heat pick up a season-opening victory to their in-state rival. It was their first game without two franchise cornerstones.
It was a cruel summer for the Miami Heat.
The team lost Dwyane Wade — the best player in franchise history — in July due to a contract dispute. Chris Bosh failed a physical in September and was not cleared to attend training camp.
Team president Pat Riley announced soon after that Chris was no longer working towards a return to the Heat.
The last two-thirds of The Heatles were gone in one offseason. Just like that.
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But the sun continues to rise every morning. The Heat still have to play 82 regular season games. A new era of basketball in Miami must begin.
That new era commenced Wednesday with a 108-96 victory at the in-state rival Orlando Magic.
The undisputed leader for the Heat in this win was Hassan Whiteside. This is his team now. Whiteside finished the night with 18 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. One of those blocks was basically Hassan pulling the ball out of the sky.
Whiteside was the go-to guy in the paint, with two-thirds of his nine field goals coming from assists. He pulled down four offensive boards and racked up eight second-chance points. On defense, as evidenced by his block total, he was a wall.
He led the team with 17 contested shots and heavily contributed to Orlando’s 30.8 percent shooting under the basket.
On the downside, Whiteside didn’t wander much out of the paint to defend. Nikola Vucevic, his matchup for much of the night, went 3-of-8 under the rim and 4-of-6 from mid-range.
Centers with the tendency to stretch the floor with their shooting will be able to expose that moving forward.
It will be fun to see Whiteside battle against other rim protectors. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see that on Wednesday.
The league suspended Bismack Biyombo — Orlando’s newly-acquired shot-blocker — for one game due to his accrual of flagrant fouls during his 2016 playoff run with Toronto.
This game also marked the beginning of Goran Dragic as the primary ball handler in Miami. Dragic hasn’t had the role to his self since 2012-13 in Phoenix. He didn’t disappoint in Game 1, finishing with 16 points, six assists, six rebounds and three turnovers.
Goran has wanted the opportunity to be a lead guard for much of his career and has only been afforded it so many times. With Wade out, the spotlight is back on Dragic.
Justise Winslow filled his role as the do-everything wing. He ended the night with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal. Winslow went 7-of-15 from the field, which generally denotes a good night. However, once you pull back the layers, it does tell a stark story.
Winslow was a perfect 6-of-6 from at the rim. That contrasts with a 1-of-9 performance from elsewhere on the floor. Justise’s jump-shooting issues will continue to be an area of concern as the season continues.
As a matter of fact, Miami’s team shooting outside of the paint was problematic Wednesday night. The Miami Heat shot a strong 70.5 percent at the rim, but it got worse from further out.
They went 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) in the rest of the paint, 6-of-24 from mid-range (25 percent) and 4-of-16 (25 percent) from three. Luke Babbitt and James Johnson made two threes each, and that was it.
Despite Miami’s attacking prowess, they have to make sure they have the three ready in their back pocket. Wednesday night was a reprieve since they were taking advantage of Orlando’s lack of rim protection. For future games, however, they have to make sure the three is more consistent.
They have the personnel to do so.
Lastly, Tyler Johnson was fantastic off of the bench. The Fresno State alum had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. He showed a soft shooting touch when he knocked down a floater and two mid-range buckets — one from each wing.
Tyler also showed off some incredible bounce on two fastbreak slams and a baseline poster on Jeff Green. He led a Heat bench that outscored the Magic’s bench 42-17.
Miami really believes in Tyler Johnson. This was evident in their decision to match Brooklyn’s offer sheet over the summer. He’s going to be Miami’s sixth man moving forward.
They’re going to need solid performances like this off of the bench if they want to stay afloat in a more competitive middle of the Eastern Conference.
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The Miami Heat started their new era on the right foot with the Wednesday win. Their next game will be their home opener on Friday. They will be hosting the Charlotte Hornets.