Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat crush Pelicans on a career night from Norman Powell

The Heat caught a break in the schedule with a successful tune-up against the Pelicans, who came into Miami on a six-game skid. They went 1-1 in the weekend back-to-back, yet not much can be taken away from these outings, aside from giving reps to the youngsters, and allowing others to bolster their numbers. 

Yet it took a while to soften NOLA up. 

The Heat drained 12 first-half trifectas, falling one short of tying their average makes for a game, but were only eight points ahead going into intermission. That’s also with the Pelicans coughing up 17 turnovers, the most by an opponent in that span, yet the defense declined to guard the 3-point line, including getting torched by Trey Murphy III five times and allowing 32 points in the lane, six baskets belonging to Zion Williamson.

They subsequently rendered Williamson invisible and held the Pelicans to 15 points on 24% shooting in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Norman Powell ripped three more 3-pointers, and the rest of the crew poured in five more shots in the lane.

The Heat started the fourth quarter with a 16-point edge and never permitted the Pelicans to get within reaching distance as Kel’el Ware kept his foot on the gas, assaulting the lane on five immaculate attempts.

The Heat won 125-106, bumping their record up to 20-16. They’ll now begin a four-game road trip on Tuesday in Minnesota, followed by at Chicago on Thursday, at Indiana on Saturday and at Oklahoma City on Jan. 11.

Takeaways:

• The Heat didn’t see much open-court resistance, scoring 154.5 points per 100 transition plays, which is good enough for the 80th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.  

• The Heat scored 70 in the first half. The last time they had at least that much by intermission was on Dec. 1 versus the Clippers. They are undefeated (8-0) on nights it happens. 

• Bam Adebayo guarded well because that’s just who he is, but it’s clear he’s nowhere near 100% healthy. He’s not moving as fluidly on offense and has been out of sync for a significant part of the season. It was the third straight night, and the 11th time this year he has logged below 40% of his shots.

• Myron Gardner, who is on a two-way contract, played 12 impactful minutes of defense, following only four in the Heat’s loss at home to the Timberwolves on Saturday. Additionally, Pelle Larsson keeps blossoming and did a little bit of everything: 16 points on 46.7% shooting, with three rebounds and six assists.

• Powell scored 34 points, including a career high of nine 3-pointers on 75% shooting. He’s leading the team in average makes per game and in total long-range baskets (96). Coach Erik Spoelstra said he should have had 18 attempts. Additionally, Powell was asked if he thinks he’s made a good case for his first All-Star campaign. He believes he has and wants to make it. “I learned last year not to get caught up in whether I make it or not.”

• Nikola Jović has been playing confidently lately, and he had one of his best games of the season. He had four baskets in transition, where he is best, and broke into the half-court for some nice baskets. Him playing at this level adds another dimension that would give the Heat big-time help.