Women’s basketball: Miami, FIU still contending after weekend wins

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Both of the Magic City’s women’s college basketball teams notched impressive wins at home this past weekend, putting them in a better position with their respective conference tournaments on the horizon.

The Miami Hurricanes defeated the California Golden Bears 69-60 on Sunday behind Ra Shaya Kyle’s 16 points and 14 rebounds. Gal Raviv scored 13 points, Vittoria Blasigh added 12 points, and Ahmad Adams chipped in 10 points.

The Hurricanes were efficient from the three-point line (7-of-10) while defending the Bears to an 8-of-33 clip from behind the arc.

Much like Jai Lucas in his first year, Tricia Cullop shuffled the roster through the transfer portal entering her second season.

Kyle, a graduate student who transferred to Miami after three seasons in Florida and two in Purdue, is enjoying a career year with the Canes, averaging 16 points and 10.1 rebounds per game entering Sunday.

Raviv transferred to Miami after averaging 17.9 points per game at Quinnipiac. In a tougher conference, she is still contributing with 13.5 points and 4 assists per game. Amarachi Kimpson was coming off a 14.5 PPG season at UNLV before coming to Miami, where she is averaging 12 PPG.

Blasigh was a starter for two years at South Florida before becoming a key role player off the bench in Miami. Her 12 points off the bench were her highest since Feb. 5 against Virginia. She also averaged 12.3 points per game during an eight-game stretch from Dec. 3 to Jan. 15.

With three straight wins to rebound from a four-game skid, the Hurricanes have the opportunity to finish with a 9-9 conference record with favorable matchups against Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech. The ACC is currently projected by Bracketology to send nine teams to March Madness. It just so happens that nine teams in the ACC have 10 conference wins.

The Hurricanes missed their chance to have 10 wins when they lost to their rivals on the road. Ending the regular season on a five-game winning streak and notching a couple of wins in the conference tournament may give Miami a chance to crash the party.

Can FIU take C-USA?

Record-wise at 17-9, Florida International is the best women’s basketball team in South Florida.

The Panthers concluded the home slate of their schedule with a 66-45 win over Liberty to improve to 10-5 in conference play, which is good for second place in C-USA behind Louisiana Tech (21-5, 14-1). The friendly confines have been kind to the Panthers, who went 12-4 at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

The Panthers are led by Rhema Collins, who went from a bench player from Ole Miss to a full-time starter averaging 18 points and nine rebounds, and two steals per game. She turned in a 16-point-10 rebound double-double against Liberty after two straight games of 20+ points.

Parris Atkins is averaging 17 points per game in her second season at FIU. She scored 25 points with 3-of-5 clip from the three-point line against Liberty on Sunday after dropping a 17-point-10 rebound double-double against Delaware on Thursday before.

The Panthers are 5-5 on the road and will finish the regular season with three straight road games, at Missouri State, Middle Tennessee, and Western Kentucky. Louisiana Tech may be the only team in C-USA that could potentially make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid should they not win the conference tournament.

FIU will have to win the C-USA Tournament if the Panthers are going to have a shot at making their first March Madness appearance since 2002.

 

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Three Heat needs for the rest of the season

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The Heat are on a three-game win streak, and the low-level competition is largely responsible. It’s their fifth streak of that length, which is also their second-longest as they sit inches away from the six seed, claimed by the 76ers. Being in the top six bypasses the Play-In Tournament, which they have crossed the last three seasons, and it’s imperative they avoid it in 2025-26.

 

It won’t be easy since it’s been hard to count on health, plus the Magic are closely behind and own the tiebreaker. The Heat need a few things for a strong close to the regular season. They are…

 

Defined role for Tyler Herro

 

It’s been a frustrating season for Tyler Herro because he hasn’t been able to play but 13 games, yet he’s healthy now, and it should be a big help to the team. He’s a professional scorer who can create havoc as a starter or off the bench, yet the latter might be the preferred option for now to keep up the defensive style.

 

Davion Mitchell has been the starting point guard since he’s been their best playmaker for others and one of their top one-on-one defenders. When he’s out, rolling with the 6’6 Kasparas Jakučionis has worked. The rook has good passing instincts, doesn’t turn the ball over much, and uses his length to guard well.  He will eventually get more assertive as a scorer, but there have been flashes of that, most recently scoring nine points in the third quarter of Saturday’s win against the Grizzlies.

 

It’s not a sexy role to come off the bench the season after being an All-Star, but sacrifice gets noticed. This squad has many ingredients of similar impact and using them in different spots by having a key member buy-in, could take them from mid-level to something dangerous.

 

Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been terrific as a sixth man, but his lack of a deep shot makes it possible to scheme him out. Kel’el Ware is maybe a season or two away from putting it all together. So, Herro is left as the go-to because of his proficiency from long range in combination with comfort in playing at a fast or slow pace.

 

Thriving in the non-Bam Adebayo minutes

 

When Ware is focused and slightly ticked off, he’s a powerhouse with possibly the highest ceiling on the team. Yet it’s not realistic to expect him to be a complete player in his second season. Bam Adebayo wasn’t close to what he became in his sophomore campaign, either.

 

It’s harder for him to get going towards the rim with the team using the lowest screen roll frequency in the league. He’s capable of scoring off the catch and on short-range catch-and-go moves, but needs to get stronger to get in the post more to bank on his gifts.

 

Perhaps Keshad Johnson’s confidence from winning the dunk contest will carry over, and he can be the reliable backup big man option when it’s clear that Ware’s minutes aren’t working. Maintaining a rhythm while playing sporadically is a challenge, too, but they must avoid a drop-off when Adebayo rests. The team is most vulnerable without its captain as a security blanket on defense, so quick feet and effort on the glass are the only ways they won’t get exposed.

 

Better 3-point defense 

 

Defensive rating can be a misleading metric because it will never tell you how bad a team’s 3-point protection is. Nonetheless, the Heat allow the most open 3-point attempts (18.3) in the NBA, yet get lucky because opponents only make 33% of those. Additionally, they give up 17.7 wide-open 3-pointers per game, which is somehow fourth-best, but that’s an indicator of how behind with the times teams are at covering the arc. The Heat aren’t as fortunate on wide-open attempts as rivals make 38.3% of those.

 

They could permit a few to a handful fewer if they played the corners tighter and didn’t give unnecessary help on opposing drives. Keep in mind that 90% of 3-point attempts taken in the NBA are open to wide-open. There has to be equal emphasis in disrupting that as there is to take those shots.

 

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Heat cruise past the Grizzlies, and Andrew Wiggins breaks 15K points

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The Heat boat-raced the depleted Grizzlies in Miami on the second night of a back-to-back. They scored easily on the break, absorbed rebounds and got steady scoring from the veterans.  

 

Coach Erik Spoelstra called it one of the most mature post-up games Bam Adebayo has played, and also said that the team would have held the Grizzlies to 110 points if not for the last minute and a half. 

 

The team kept getting to the line, Andrew Wiggins was getting anything he wanted on cuts and catch-and-shoot jumpers. Additionally, Tyler Herro and Norman Powell took turns ripping up the schemes en route to a 73-point first half. Yet their defense was compromised, allowing Jaylen Wells and GG Jackson to have one of their best nights of the season, combining for 13 field goals.

 

The Heat subsequently continued to overwhelm the lane with nine baskets, while the Grizzlies’ 3-point shooting and hustle kept them briefly within striking distance. 

 

The former eventually took an 18-point edge into the fourth quarter. They went cold for a stretch, but the Grizzlies could never take the game by the throat. 

 

The Heat won 136-120, and it was their eighth-highest scoring game of the season. Wiggins said in the locker room that, “When we are [a] full squad, everyone healthy, we’re very hard to deal with.” 

 

The only absence was Davion Mitchell’s.

 

Takeaways:

  • The Grizzlies put up a valiant effort, but they didn’t have enough firepower outside of GG Jackson and Ty Jerome to hang for long stretches. To boot, the third quarter was the most significant part of the game since five Heatles had multiple baskets, outscoring them by 13 points. That included nine digits from Kasparas Jakučionis, who scored on a backdoor cut, a corner trey, a fastbreak layup and freebies. 

 

  • The Heat’s offense was rolling, scoring 127.1 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 88th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. On top of that, it was their second-straight game scoring at least 70 in the paint, which has only happened once early in the year between Nov. 7 and 8. And Wiggins scored 28 points on 90% shooting. 

 

  • Myron “mayhem” Gardner got into a slight dust-up at the end of the game with Scotty Pippen Jr. after the former set a hard screen. The latter didn’t like it, came all the way down court and shoved Gardner while the Heat were up 21 points with fewer than two minutes left. It spilled into the stands and both were ejected.

 

  • This was the 12th time the Heat have scored at least 70 points in the first half and remain undefeated in those games.

 

 

  • Herro, Powell and Wiggins scored between 14 and 19 points in the first half and neither shot below 62.5%, leaving the Grizzlies with more holes than Swiss cheese. Then Herro cooled off, but the other two carried the team in the second half, combining for 18 points on 64% shooting. 

 

 

  • Wiggins’ scoring pushed him past 15,000 regular-season points (15,007). Consider how the only other players in team history who scored at least 28 points on 90% shooting are LeBron James (31), Shaquille O’Neal (31), Hassan Whiteside (31) and Alonzo Mourning twice (43 & 29). Additionally, there are 26 NBA players with more career points than Wiggins. 

 

 

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Tyler Herro’s return in Atlanta propels the Heat’s 14th road win

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Tyler Herro returned in the Miami Heat’s first game after the All-Star break in the win against the Hawks in Atlanta, looking like he’d never left. His jumper was on target, and he dribbled past defenders for five shots in the paint.

 

“I feel good,” Herro said. “Just happy to be back here playing with my teammates.”

 

The Heat had payback on their mind for the Feb. 3 game, in which the Hawks blasted them on 2006 championship commemoration night. They built their largest first-half lead (15) mostly plowing into the lane while their deep shooting faltered. The Hawks sliced the advantage down to six going into intermission, and their biggest dent came from behind the arc, making seven treys in the second frame.  

 

The third quarter subsequently followed a similar script to the first, as the Heat briefly ran up a 17-point lead, courtesy of the bench’s intensity and accuracy. Still, the Hawks maintained a pulse as McCollum and Nickeil Alexander-Walker combined for six baskets on and off the dribble from short and long range. 

 

The visitors flashed a zone in the fourth quarter to throw off the Hawks’ rhythm, and they outhustled them up-and-down the court, plus cut them up in the half-court. The edge was eventually raised to 34 points, and the Hawks yielded before the final buzzer.

 

The Heat won 128-97. They scored 72 points in the lane, which ties their third-highest mark of the season.

Takeaways:

  • The Heat started their back-to-back, while the Hawks were on the second night of theirs, plus the latter was dead-legged on defense. The former had seven double-digit scorers log between 10 and 24 points. On top of that, they did so much damage in the fourth quarter (41 points) that coach Erik Spoelstra found garbage time minutes for Nikola Jović, who has struggled this season. It was also their sixth win this season by 30 points or better (31).

 

 

  • The Hawks’ offense broke, as they recorded 93.1 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the third percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. Onyeka Okongwu was their only starter to shoot better than 50% from the field (66.7), and their All-Star, Jalen Johnson, had a triple-double, but his abysmal shooting (27.3%) was a big help for the Heat.

 

  • Pelle Larsson was the only Heatle to play 30 minutes or more (31), while the rest of the starters logged between 24 and 27.

 

  • The Heat did a solid job on the glass, with eight players recording at least four rebounds. Kel’el Ware, specifically, was like a magnet for misses. The team preventing the Hawks from having successful second-chance opportunities was a difference maker, and so was punishing them for their 12 mistakes with 20 points off turnovers.

 

  • McCollum has averaged 19 points on a 54.5 effective field goal percentage in his career against the Heat, which included eight nights of endless artillery strikes. Friday was not much different as he kept the Hawks from falling apart with 20 points on 50% shooting. 

 

  • Herro was the team’s leading first-half scorer with 16 points on 62.5% shooting and later scored the back-breaking baskets in the fourth. Bam Adebayo also had an efficient dozen on close-range shots before intermission, which included two nice post-up moves. He didn’t keep it going, but the team didn’t need him to as the bench kept producing.

 

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The 2026 All-Star weekend mattered and more notes

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Everyone in the NBA owes a debt of gratitude to the old timers who treated the All-Star Game like it mattered. It would have been harder for the NBA to sell its product to TV partners if it were a joke, so the disrespect to the game that had gone on for way too long hopefully came to an end after Kawhi Leonard’s epic performance, Victor Wembanyama breaking the ice and Anthony Edwards’ MVP showing. 

 

Sure, there were few like Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić who didn’t go as hard. They are presumably happy for their teammates, but who knows what they must’ve felt watching themselves get upstaged like that. Shame on them for the low RPMs.

 

The standard has been set for next season, yet there’s one wrinkle: many players before the game said they wanted to go back to an East v. West format, yet the current one works. The NBA should side with what the fans want.

 

The first good omen was the NBA’s signature theme song, performed by its composer, John Tesh, at midcourt. But there was abysmal transition defense early, then the intensity meter elevated and peaked in Game 3 (Stars v. World*) as Leonard dazzled with 31 digits on 84.6 percent accuracy. 

 

When they go hard like that, it’s worthy of Oscar Robertson and Julius Erving’s time. Fingers crossed the next hosting stars give it everything like Leonard did, and the younger stable treats the fans better than the last generation did.

 

The one part of the weekend the big-timers are lacking is the dunk contest for fear of their peers embarrassing them on an island. It’s reminiscent of boxing champions holding belts hostage by refusing to fight the best contenders in their division. 

 

Credit to the background players who prepare for it and use it as an opportunity to elevate their status. It was special to see the pride and joy on Keshad Johnson’s face as he walked into the press room carrying his trophy. Still, the lack of star power there is eternally disappointing.

 

Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins having memorable showdowns helped grow the game, too. There was a time when people would look forward to this, and now it’s dreaded. The last great one was Aaron Gordon against Zach LaVine in 2016. The last All-Star who competed in the dunk contest and the exhibition on the same weekend was Jaylen Brown in 2024, and before that, it was DeAndre Jordan in 2017.

 

From now on, the league should forget starting at 5PM ET, and Kevin Durant should get his eyes checked. How is it possible for Durant to be such a lethal marksman, yet not know what he’s seeing when watching All-Star games in which the men wore high shorts? Lots of people will thoughtlessly believe him after he said he didn’t see vigor. 

 

The 1992 game was a 43-point blowout, but the other ones of the decade were decided by an average of 13 points. Plenty of competitive games end in double-figure margins, and they weren’t BSing. No one’s saying it had playoff intensity, but they were real games.  Keep in mind that one 1990 had 17 blocks, in 1995 there were 21 and last year’s had one. The 1993 game was decided by three points in overtime, and both squads combined for 28 steals. 

 

Every era is special, and no one should stand for a warped re-telling of NBA history. 

 

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat go into the All-Star break on a positive note after beating the Pelicans

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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.



Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat suffer one of their worst losses of the season to the Utah Jazz

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The Heat blew it at home against the notorious tankers, who rested their two best players in the fourth quarter. They even had to go to their rookie, who was one of their top two offensive players, but he missed the go-ahead shot in the corner.

 

The Jazz refused to guard the 3-point line, probably knowing that the Heat would slow down eventually. Their massive, three-big lineup recovering 15 offensive rebounds and suppressing the inside action kept them on the Heat’s heels. 

 

The hosts went to intermission down nine points, and Bam Adebayo did most of the heavy lifting to drag them out of the hole. They also got some help because Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen started the fourth quarter on the bench and never checked in for the final stretch. Yet they failed to do the rest, and Brice Sensabaugh dropped Jaime Jaquez Jr. and hit a pull-up triple to take the lead with 47 seconds left. 

 

The Heat lost 115-111. This was their 13th loss decided by five points or fewer (7-6). 

 

Takeaways:

 

  • The Utah Jazz will have to send their pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder if it falls outside of the top eight in the lottery, so they didn’t want to win this game. That same team, which has had one of the worst defenses in the league, held Miami to 93.4 points per 100 possessions in the half-court, good enough for the 38th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.

 

  • Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins carried the Heat in the fourth quarter, combining for seven baskets at short and long range. Yet, they missed five free throws in the period, and Jaquez blanked the other two. 

 

  • Kasparas Jakučionis has been scoring from deep over the last couple of games, hitting 75% of attempts. 

 

  • Jaren Jackson Jr. probably hasn’t unpacked all of his bags since getting traded to Utah on Feb. 3. He shot poorly, but made seven baskets in the paint and behind the arc. Coach Will Hardy was asked if he was close to winning him and Markkanen into the fourth quarter, and he said he wasn’t. 

 

  • Rookie Ace Bailey lit up Miami’s interior for a dozen points, which included two lobs.  He was the best player in the fourth quarter, slashing into the lane, making four baskets.

 

  • Kel’el Ware fouled out in 14 minutes in one of his worst showings of the season.



  • Despite the Jazz only scoring nine second-chance points, they still did damage by taking away precious possessions from the Heat. Their most effective rebounders were Jusuf Nurkić (16) and Kyle Filipowski (11).

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat’s cruise control enough to overpower the Wizards in Washington

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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.



Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat’s second-half drought leads to defeat in Boston

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The Heat were desperate to atone for their humiliating performance on Tuesday when the 2006 championship team was honored in Miami, and they would have done well if they could have stopped the count early. The Celtics debuted former Heat nemesis Nikola Vučević, and overwhelmed them at close range. 

 

It was Boston’s sixth win since Jan. 26, holding opponents to 100 points or less. Yet the Heat ran up a 22-point first-half lead on a stream of 3-pointers and fastbreak strikes while the Celtics went through an offensive famine. Andrew Wiggins, in particular, had his jumper connect five times across the wings. 

 

They even threw out a full-court press and denied them success in transition. Yet, naturally, their prosperous run expired at halftime, coming into the third quarter inept on offense and missing 14 shots. 

 

It took the Celtics until the end of the frame to tie, courtesy of Jaylen Brown, Vučević and Payton Pritchard seizing the moment with nine combined baskets, five coming in the lane.  On the other side, Norman Powell jammed his finger trying to pass out of the lane early in the third, and returned for all of the fourth quarter. The snowball effect started in the meantime when Boston made consecutive triples midway through third, forcing a Heat timeout.

 

They failed to stop the bleeding, and Spoelstra even futilely deployed the offensively challenged Nikola Jović, and he missed all five second-half attempts. The fourth quarter subsequently turned into the Pritchard and Derrick White show as they both combined for 19 points on short and long-range baskets.

 

The Heat lost 98-96, and it was the fifth time they’ve been held below 100 points this year. They are winless on those nights. 

 

Spoelstra said, “As painful as this is, it’s going to drive us. And I feel we’re going to get there.”

 

Takeaways:

  • The Heat held Boston to a season low in scoring in the first quarter (15), and these are the types of games that highlight how they don’t have enough, and proceeding with the build is a misguided effort. As well as they played early, it was one of the rare nights the Celtics weren’t prepared this year from tip-off. Nonetheless, the Heat are heading towards their fourth Play-In Tournament appearance in a row unless they have a legendary turnaround. Count on the rapture coming first after many of the players know they were bait for a trade that didn’t happen for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

 

  • It’s clear that Bam Adebayo is wasting his time with this team as they are three games out of the sixth seed, which would bypass the Play-In, but now the Charlotte Hornets are on their tail. The Hornets are the hottest team in the league after a superb January, and have piled up eight straight wins as their high-end talent is blossoming. They haven’t done that since 2000.

 

  • Recently named first-time All-Star Norman Powell was a marksman, burying buckets on and off the dribble from short and long range. He is averaging 23 points this season, which is the 14th highest in team history. 

 

  • Derrick White earned his first career flagrant foul on a reckless closeout on Powell’s 3-point attempt. 



Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Heat embarrassed themselves on the 2006 title’s celebration night

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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.