Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Is capturing the sixth seed too hard for the Heat?

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It only took the Heat four days after their return from the All-Star break to remind everyone how unserious they are. Losing to the Bucks without their indecisive Greek megastar is one of their worst losses of the year, and there’s a new candidate for those every few weeks, it seems. On top of that, no matter how close they get to grasping the sixth seed, it slips through their fingers, like most recently on Thursday.

 

Pat Riley had a distraction from this team in his trip to Los Angeles, in which he was honored for past glory, but it ended just in time for him to witness the Milwaukee meltdown, too. 

 

The players sang the same tune in the locker room and presser about not getting stops. Their Tuesday performance highlights how much they’ve seen better days, in the 20-year anniversary of their first championship.

 

Coach Erik Spoelstra has preached the same platitude about pressure being a privilege, and now he sounds like a cleric reciting sermons on the street corner that no one is listening to. He could turn to veterans like Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem and Andre Iguodala in the past to inject the rotation with a different dynamic, but aside from Tyler Herro, who has glaring defensive shortcomings, there’s not much else. 

 

One wonders what the decision-makers hope to prove this season, as a swift first-round exit likely awaits them if they get that far. It should sting them twice that the star they covet knows how they’ll struggle with what he’s got already. Keep in mind that it was in Milwaukee’s best interest to lose that game to improve their lottery chances. 

 

Then they blew their second-half comeback on Thursday in Philly against the 76ers because they were clueless on how to guard the arc and got beat in the open court 27-22. Spoelstra called it getting beat at their own game, yet interestingly, the Heat are not good at playing fast; they do it more than other teams to break down opponents’ legs (first in frequency), yet are 29th in points per possession (1.07).

 

Thursday’s loss was a double whammy because they fell a game further away from the sixth seed (2.5), held by Philadelphia.

 

It seems inevitable that the Heat will be in their fourth consecutive Play-In Tournament. So the NBA should change its name to the Miami Heat Invitational. Unfortunately for them, they’ll have no vintage Jimmy Butler to bail them out.

 



Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat’s second-half comeback falls short in Philadelphia

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The short, two-game road trip concluded fruitlessly for the Heat in Philadelphia. They got torn up in the open court and refused to guard the arc.

 

Coach Erik Spoelstra estimated that his team hit the deck six or seven times in the second half in the pursuit of loose balls after hardly any of that before intermission. “They ran us out of the gym in the first half… we got back into it, took a lead, and then it became [a] possession game from there. They made some plays down the stretch where we couldn’t.”

 

The first quarter was the Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey show as the former swarmed the lane and the latter drained five 3-pointers, taking the lead from Allen Iverson for most in franchise history. Yet the Heat were somehow down one by nearly matching them in baskets. 

 

The Heat subsequently couldn’t keep up with Philadelphia’s speed, force, deep shooting plus rebounding while they raised their turnover count to 10. Bam Adebayo did everything he could with a double-double (16 points & 10 rebounds) to carry them, but they went to halftime down 16 points with only an edge in bench scoring.  

 

Then a 3-point eruption from Adebayo and Tyler Herro dragged them back, and they briefly took the lead. Yet the 76ers countered with a late run that included two treys against the Heat’s weak coverage. 

 

The Heat’s deep shooting stayed hot in the fourth quarter, and the pendulum momentarily swung back to their side as Herro curled behind a flare screen to get inside for a floater, and then hit a step-back triple at the top of the key. But the 76ers responded with eight-straight points in crunch time, which included two corner 3-pointers.

 

The Heat lost 124-117, and conceded 17 3-pointers. 

 

“The beat is at our game,” Spoelstra said. “That speed game, 27 in transition. That’s what we do.”

 

 

Takeaways:

 

  • It will always sting the latter extra whenever Maxey, who they passed on for Precious Achiuwa at 20th, abuses them and makes it look easy like a pro fighter on the speed bag. He had a season high in first-quarter scoring (20) and finished with 28. On top of that, it was a back breaker that Cam Payne had two second-half 3-pointers, and V.J. Edgecombe nailed multiple pull-up jumpers in the fourth.

 

  • The Heat flashed a zone late in the third and in the fourth. It wasn’t perfect, but it got some key stops. They let go of the rope when they unnecessarily helped off the left corner, giving up two huge late baskets.

 

  • Aside from getting burned on the break, the Heat also suffered 20 second-chance points and 21 points off turnovers. The second quarter was their sloppiest spurt, getting outscored by 15 and being unable to defend without fouling as Philly took 10 freebies, making nine.

 

  • Even 70% of Embiid is dangerous. He has a rare combination of size, power, and agility that the Heat has few answers for. It’s a surprise when his jumper doesn’t fall at mid-range. He even briefly went to the locker room to get checked out after inadvertently catching a knee midway through the second quarter, and slowed down in the second half. 

 

  • Nights like this highlight how much of a guppy Kasparas Jakičionis is because it looked like he was in the right spot, but Maxey didn’t see him.

 

  • Norman Powell didn’t return because of a right growing strain in the second quarter. Spoelstra said he would be reevaluated when they get back to Miami.

 

  • The 76ers came into the game as the sixth seed. The Heat’s loss dropped them to 2.5 games out of that position, which is the last spot that bypasses the Play-In Tournament. Additionally, the Heat and 76ers are 1-1 in the season series, and the final matchup between them is on March 30 in Miami.



Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat blow it in Milwaukee against Giannis-less Bucks

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The Heat’s brief two-game road trip started with a loss in Milwaukee against the Bucks. They failed to convert easy baskets, and they let Ryan Rollins turn into vintage Ray Allen.

 

The Heat got out in transition early and had the edge on the glass, but they had five turnovers, and the Bucks led by one at the end of the first quarter thanks to superior long and mid-range shooting, much of it coming from Ryan Rollins and Kyle Kuzma. 

 

The hosts kept raining 3-pointers in the second quarter, but the Heat countered with four straight of their own, forcing coach Doc Rivers to call a stoppage. The visitors closed out the half on a 10-13 run and were down five, plus they had started losing their intensity to hunt for loose balls and soiled their offense with multiple late turnovers. 

 

They subsequently had an early flurry in the first few minutes of the third quarter to take the lead, but the Bucks snatched it back half as fast with a pair of shots in the lane and two 3-pointers. The Heat eventually went into the fourth ahead by four points following their success getting back to their transition attack, plus they made 10 shots in the paint. 

 

The team followed up going cold, and Norman Powell did his best to bail them out of a tight fourth quarter by nailing a trifecta and five free throws, yet they let go of the rope late when Andrew Wiggins missed two late freebies. 

 

The Heat were outscored by 15 in the fourth quarter and lost 128-117.

 

They will not practice on Wednesday.

 

Takeaways:

 

  • This was the Heat’s second confrontation of the year with the Bucks, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo for his 12th straight game. The Heat has the bad habit of playing down to the level of the competition, and they struggled to guard.  One particular mistake they keep making is reckless closeouts to the arc. 

 

  • Kevin Porter Jr. limped to the locker room fewer than four minutes into the game after hurting his ankle, and then came back scoring 32 points. He finessed his way into the lane for eight baskets, but none were bigger than his corner jumper while absorbing the contact from Davion Mitchell to take the lead in crunch time; then he finished on a quick pick-and-roll set to put them up four. Rollins’ two late unguarded jumpers closed the deal. 

 

  • The Heat had big-time contributions from Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins and Kel’el Ware in the third quarter, yet they combined for only 25% shooting in the fourth. Powell was the team’s best player, scoring 26 points, yet he had zero assists and six turnovers. On top of that, the team’s offense was in the gutter, scoring 111.4 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 39th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. The corner shot is the easiest in the NBA, and the Heat missed all nine attempts there.

 

  • Using Tyler Herro and Powell together, especially late, is not a good idea because they are not good enough defenders.

 

 



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.

 

Miami baseball rolling after four-game sweep over Lafayette

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If nothing else, the No. 23 Miami Hurricanes baseball team has proven to be the class of the Patriot League.

The Hurricanes concluded their opening weekend series against Lehigh by scoring 27 runs. Lehigh’s rival, Lafayette, did not prove to be any more of a challenge.

Miami hit nine home runs, including five in the fourth inning, to complete a four-game sweep over Lafayette with a 30-5 win on Sunday. As wild as that sounds, the Hurricanes only totaled 28 runs during their two seven-inning wins in Saturday’s doubleheader.

Daniel Cuvet hit two of the Canes’ five fourth-inning home runs including a grand slam to drive his RBI total to 13 on the season. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a Hurricane hitter has smashed a grand slam.

“It was a great inning,” Cuvet said after the game. “The guys were able to get on base for me.”

Cuvet has been a star in Miami since first donning the orange and green. He smashed 24 home runs as a freshman and drove in 84 runs as a sophomore. He seems on pace for both totals after the first two weeks of his junior season.

This series was a coming-out party for freshman Dylan Dubovik, who despite starting only two of the six games he’s played this season, has batted .846 with three home runs and 11 RBI. Much like Cuvet on Sunday, Dobovik hit two home runs, including a grand slam, on Saturday.

Alex Sosa, a junior catcher who transferred from North Carolina State, homered on Friday and Sunday against Lafayette and leads the Hurricanes with 17 RBI while tied with Cuvet for the team lead with five dingers.

The Miami pitching is showing top form as well. AJ Ciscar has 16 strikeouts in 11 innings with a 2.45 ERA in two starts. After a 10-strikeout performance on Saturday, Larazo Collera has 18 total punch-outs in 9.2 innings.

Miami faced similar competition last year, but did not beat them like they are now. The Hurricanes scored 57 runs against Lehigh and 73 runs against Lafayette. Against their toughest opponent, Central Florida, the Canes stormed back from a 5-0 deficit and won on a walk-off home run in extra innings.

Throughout the series against a mid-major opponent Miami was certain to beat, the Hurricanes enjoyed the energy of a packed crowd at Mark Light Field.

“It’s amazing,” Dobovik said after Saturday’s game. “This is kind of like my backyard, my hometown.”

Miami will truly be tested in the upcoming week. The Hurricanes will travel north to Florida Atlantic on Wednesday before hosting No. 14 Florida during the weekend. The Owls are coming off avoiding a home sweep against Iowa with a 3-2 win on Sunday while the Gators enter the week 7-1 and will host FIU for a mid-week series.

This week will test just how good Miami can be, but after two weeks and a lot of fireworks, the focus and chemistry are already there.

“It’s pretty easy to stay locked in,” Cuvet said. “It’s a fun group of guys.”

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.