The Heat powered their way to victory in New Orleans against the struggling Pelicans. Their half-court attack was ineffective, but they made up for it in transition.

 

Jaime Jaquez said it was a high priority to get a win before the All-Star break, and that, “It’s for momentum. Coming after the break, we know it’s going to be a big push for us, and it started with this game…”

 

Their biggest issue was containing Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy III’s rim pressure as NOLA went cold from deep. It didn’t help the other side that they were misfiring from the perimeter in the first half, but they got a stimulus from Kel’el Ware’s offensive rebounding, plus Jaquez and Bam Adebayo added eight field goals in the lane. 

 

They went to intermission ahead by three, and subsequently emerged, pulverizing them with offensive rebounds and second-chance scoring, while adding six trifectas. Ware was the high Heatle with seven points and eight rebounds in the third quarter, and he denied Williamson’s two-foot layup. 

 

The fourth quarter began with the Heat ahead by 11, yet Adebayo and Jaquez had cooled off. Nonetheless, they prevented the Pelicans from getting within striking distance until the last two minutes by getting to the line and shutting off the lane. 

 

The Heat won 123-111. Their next game is on Feb. 20 in Atlanta.

 

Coach Erik Spoelstra said Adebayo was “so rugged [Wednesday]. I think he could have drawn probably three, four, five more fouls if they called them… a lot of our firepower was on the sidelines, or not even here in the building. So quite naturally, we were going to lean on [Adebayo], even more than we normally do.”

 

Takeaways:

 

• The Heat (29-27) were defeated two nights earlier by the Utah Jazz, who were trying to lose on purpose, and it will take more than beating New Orleans for them to reestablish their credibility. No one should doubt Jaquez, who said in the locker room that they would be hungry after the All-Star break. The issue is that this team gets too comfortable with its work early, and they have trouble sustaining the necessary level of intensity after a short win streak. 

 

• Ware is hopeful the team can get everybody back after the All-Star break, and said they “should.”

 

• Adebayo is correct in his assessment that he is one of the quicker big men in the league. He needs to build on this tune-up performance and exploit his rivals more often with his speed. He can be a dangerous player when attacking the lane with a head of steam, and he was on Wednesday, attempting 17 free throws, making 13. To be clear, nobody should expect that many, but there’s no reason why he can’t average at least nine for the season.

 

• Jaquez scored 20 of his 23 points in the lane, and of all their young players, he arguably has the highest ceiling. It was his third time this year logging at least 20 in the square, and he is shooting a career high in percentage of attempts at the rim and in field goal percentage at that spot. He said at media day in September that he wanted to get back to being a big threat at going to the body and has delivered. He’s the top bench scorer in the paint (10.3), and he is a consistent 3-point shot away from being an All-Star.

The Heat got a break in their schedule, defeating the struggling Wizards in Washington. They had seven scorers in double figures, including rookie Kasparas Jakučionis, who set a new career high (22).

 

Coach Erik Spoelstra said, “We’ve shown that ability to bounce back after disappointing games. It started yesterday with a good, solid film session and meeting.”

 

The Wizards put up a valiant effort in the first quarter, but the guests were in total control by the next frame when Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware detonated in the lane. Six Heatles subsequently drained seven treys coming out of intermission and made the fourth a formality, as it started with a 32-point lead. Only two Miami starters played between four and eight minutes in the final stretch.

 

They won 132-101, and derailed the Wizards’ half-court attack to the 51st percentile. Not one Washington starter shot over 46.2%, either. 

 

Takeaways:

 

• A win against the Wizards, who are losing to ensure they don’t send their pick to the Knicks, shouldn’t count for anything. It was such a low-stakes game that Spoelstra felt comfortable deploying the shelved, double-big lineup of Adebayo and Ware for some time. They combined for 41 points and 22 rebounds, yet Adebayo was the strongest presence inside, scoring 12 of his 22 points in the lane, and seven were off second chances. Still, his most impressive work was on defense, coming up with five steals by intercepting passes and pressuring the dribble.

 

• Myron Gardner got his third career start and was factor on defense and on the glass, pulling in seven rebounds, including three offensive. He’s a hustler who does the dirty work to win, and he is carving to a nice spot in the rotation.

 

• The Heat’s 3-point shooting carried them, and they made 21, tying their third-most of the season. The team’s most prolific shooters were the rookie Jakučionis, who was unblemished in six tries, and Norman Powell, who drained five on 50% shooting. Furthermore, Jakučionis has caught Spoelstra’s eye, and he was played over Dru Smith, who is a favorite of the coach. 

 

• Andrew Wiggins spent some time guarding Wizards big man Alex Sarr, presumably because the latter is of the leaner build and did decently. This might be a strategy the Heat could use more often against players of a similar build, allowing Adebayo to feast on smaller guys.

 

 

• Over a quarter of the Heat’s time on offense was spent in transition, putting their frequency in the 99th percentile.  On top of that, Jakučionis had eight of the team’s 26 fastbreak points, and next was Simone Fontecchio (5).
• This was the 12th time this season the Heat have gone to halftime with at least 70 points (74). They are undefeated in those games. 

 

• The team has 28 outings left and is three games outside of the sixth seed, which would bypass the Play-In Tournament. They’ll play at home against Utah on Monday and in New Orleans on Wednesday before getting eight days off for the All-Star break. Spoelstra said handling the next one is “very important.” He presumably thinks the same of the NOLA matchup, but he rarely looks past teams.

The Heat got demolished against the Hawks on the night they honored their 2006 championship. Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal sat courtside for the embarrassment, yet the only bright spot was the halftime presentation, sitting the former teammates in a circle at midcourt in custom team jackets.

 

They started their skeleton crew lineup and found themselves in a 10-point hole despite Pelle Larsson going to the body and Davion Mitchell racking up four dimes because of weak corner coverage and an inability to hit shots, at one point missing nine in a row.

 

It subsequently got worse, as the Hawks’ bench outworked Miami’s. They also sliced to the lane with little resistance and erupted from deep with seven extra treys, and the Heat went into intermission down 17.

 

The halftime show, which was slightly longer than normal, affected the Hawks on defense, even with five minutes to warm up. The Heat cut the deficit to single digits, but their progress was short-lived due to CJ McCollum taking over the period, nailing shots on and off the dribble from short, mid and long range.

 

Then they got smacked around so hard in the fourth quarter that fans started leaving with seven minutes to go.

 

The Heat lost 127-115. Additionally, they only shot 25% from deep, and allowed 18 points off turnovers.

 

It’s just frustrating because we can still win with 115 [points]…We got to lock in and do the little things, but also, that 3-point line is a big factor in the game,” Bam Adebayo said.

 

Takeaways:

•  In part because of the absences to Tyler Herro, Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins, the team was flat in the first half and let the misses affect them on defense. They only allowed six baskets from the corners, but passes into the area still left them scrambling. Coach Erik Spoelstra said postgame that at their best, they are capable of playing good help defense, but it’s a mentality they must improve.

 

•  Jalen Johnson was the top player, and the Hawks got hot with too many easy shots, and they eventually started hitting contested ones. McCollum and Luke Kennard combined for 10 of Atlanta’s 21 3-pointers. On top of that, their bench was superior, outscoring Miami’s by 23 points. In the locker room, Larsson said the defense was lacking because of breakdowns that created open threes.

 

• The Heat tied their fourth-worst night of the year, guarding the lane, allowing 66 points. They barely used a zone because of Atlanta’s sharp ball movement.

 

• Kel’el Ware got beat from inside and out, and was yanked quickly in the second quarter. He also struggled in his nine second-half minutes as well.

 

• The Heat only led for fewer than four minutes after tip-off. Notably, Dwyane said pre-game in his presser about the 2006 season that the Heat’s record is not good enough.

 

• Adebayo shot poorly (25%) while seeing mostly single coverage. He missed everything outside of the lane, and he is not a good enough shooter to be trying to fool opponents with a pump fake. He would have more success if he just shot without hesitation.

 

 

They take a step forward and like clockwork, take one or two steps backward in the following game.

 

The Bulls scored 12 straight points without an answer in fewer than five minutes, causing coach Erik Spoelstra to summon the troops. Yet the visitors kept racing down court like the Running of the Bulls through Spanish streets, and they finished the first quarter scoring 14 fastbreak points and claiming a six-digit edge. 

 

It wasn’t much different than early in the second frame as they kept invading the lane, but the Heat countered with a 15-3 run and found gold in Myron Gardner’s minutes. Jaime Jaquez Jr. also ripped up the open court, and the crew got a boost from Chicago’s 14 turnovers heading into halftime with a seven-point lead. 

 

They subsequently surrendered their advantage with a cold start to the third, and Ayo Dosunmu kept producing in transition. They were outscored by 14 in the period, but if it weren’t for Pelle Larsson carrying them and Gardner doing the dirty work, it would’ve gotten uglier. 

 

Bam Adebayo then snapped out of his funk, nailing five consecutive shots in the lane and from the top of the key. But their downfall was committing seven late turnovers and being unable to stop Matas Buzelis and Ayo Dosunmu’s flurry, which included five baskets in the restricted area without a miss.

 

The Heat lost 125-118. They conceded 26 fastbreak points, which is the fourth-most of the year. It was their 11th loss at home this season, too.

 

Takeaways:

 

• It was the 50th game of the regular season, and the Heat is the 10th seed, two games out of the sixth spot. The Bulls didn’t have their primary guards, Josh Giddey and Coby White, but they still got top-notch production from Dosunmu, who finished with 29 points on 68.8% shooting, with nine assists and eight rebounds.

 

• Yuki Kawamura, the 5’7 point guard, got his first  minutes of the season for Chicago in half of the fourth quarter, and he was electric, hustling for loose balls, setting up teammates and nailing two 3-pointers.  

 

• The third quarter was another turd quarter because they allowed 59.1% shooting and even had a four-minute drought that extended from late in the period until early in the fourth. On top of that, Isaac Okoro, who came into the game averaging 8.4 points per contest, scored 11 in the period. 

 

• Gardner got his first career start, and had his first double-double with 12 points on 80% shooting, with 11 rebounds. Good things happen for the Heat in his minutes because of his high level of intensity to guard and track loose balls.

 

• Spoelstra had no trust in Kel’el Ware after a poor three minutes. The former’s frustration was palpable at the postgame presser, saying, “I know every press conference becomes about him, and I don’t want it to be that.” He also said that it wasn’t an indictment of his player, but that the game was going too fast because Chicago was using small forwards at center. Furthermore, took blame for not making positive lineups with Ware.

The Miami Heat were exposed by the desperate Orlando Magic in their fourth matchup of the season and remain winless against their in-state rivals. The latter was bigger, stronger and faster, plus Paolo Banchero and Anthony Black took over the game.

 

The Magic’s inside action was so devastating that the Heat surrendered the most first-quarter paint points of the season (26). The pick-6s also gave them trouble and zapped the offense as they ended the first quarter down seven points after going down as much as 13.

 

The second unit’s intensity in the zone defense, plus triggering the bonus for the last nine minutes of the half, which lowered Orlando’s RPMs, helped them capture the lead. It was a 41-point outburst, which included three trifectas by Simone Fontecchio and four shots in the restricted area between Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kel’el Ware.

 

Additionally, the hosts slowed down the inside bleeding in the half-court, yet still struggled when Orlando punched the gas in transition.

 

They went into intermission ahead by nine following 10 lead changes and two ties, and subsequently experienced the infamous turd quarter. They failed to stop Banchero’s close-range action, and Anthony Black erupted from inside and out, too.

 

“We couldn’t guard,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “To give up a 40-point third quarter on our home floor, with great opportunity, and playing really well in the first half, we just paid the price for that.”

 

Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Fontecchio’s three treys plus a fastbreak strike lifted them nearly halfway out of the double-digit ditch, forcing Orlando to call a timeout. But the Magic were unfazed and answered with mid and long-range jumpers that killed Miami’s spirit.

The Heat lost 133-124. Their record is now 25-23 at eighth in the East.

 

Takeaways:

 

• The Magic came into the game on a four-game losing streak and were not messing around. They pummeled the lane early, went through their rough patch, and then figured out that as soon as the Heat face adversity, they fold. Another reason for their success was their superior play in the open court, which was partly due to Miami’s sloppiness with the ball. It was also the 11th time the Heat have given up at least 60 points in the lane, and they are 5-6 in those games.

 

• The Heat were able to stay in a zone longer in the second quarter because the Magic are a poor outside shooting team. Yet, the Magic stepped up with 50% shooting from deep in the second half, plus their 20 second-chance points was back-breaker.

 

• Ware’s two offensive rebounds turned into four second-chance points. He played decently for a spurt in the first half, but he was shelved for the rest of the game.

 

• The Heat didn’t have answers for Black. He was a force on and off the dribble, when attacking the lane, and he nailed four 3-pointers. His best spurts were the first and third quarters, scoring four field goals apiece. He has a first step that most of Miami’s defenders can’t hang with.

 

• Davion Mitchell and Tyler Herro were absent, so Kasparas Jakučiokis and Pelle Larsson started for them. Jakučionis had multiple steals, including one in full-court press that turned into a pick-6. Yet they only combined for 10 points on 36.3% shooting. Orlando’s versatile size is a tough matchup.