On a night where Dwyane Wade’s statue unveiling was honored throughout the game, the celebration gets capped off the right way with a Miami Heat win. They close out the visiting Detroit Pistons 106-98 and will pick up their second straight win, improving to 2-1 on the season.
Wade’s special last couple of days was capped up with a speech to the home crowd at halftime, where they honored the legend one last time. The crowd responded with resounding MVP chants, much to his liking and appreciation. The Heat then presented him with his official “Dwyane Wade Blvd” sign, which will now take full ownership in place of Biscayne, right outside the arena.
Jimmy Butler led the way for Miami once again and has done a great job responding to his rough season opener performance. He finished with a team-high 23 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds on 7/11 shooting. The Heat star also showed activity on the defensive end, recording 4 steals on the night.
The Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier backcourt impressed once again, as they contributed with 19 and 20 points respectively. Both of the talented scoring guards contributed with timely shot making, including a dagger triple from Rozier in the final minutes.
Although still not quite there with his offense, Bam Adebayo found a way to impact the game like he usually does. He recorded his second consecutive double-double, adding 3 steals and 3 blocks. The big man only attempted 9 shots, but the all around game was in full affect with his versatility.
Miami’s core four combined for 74 of the team’s 106 points.
The Heat got bench production out of Jaime Jaquez Jr, finishing with 12 points and 9 rebounds on 50% shooting. The sophomore spent a lot of time improving his 3-points shot over the summer. He knocked down a pair of triples tonight to go along with 5/6 shooting from deep overall on the season. His floor spreading his brought value off the bench thus far.
After getting DNP’d the game before, Haywood Highsmith provided a defensive spark in his 21 minutes of action. He helped secure timely stops and showcased elite point of attack defense with activity in the passing lanes.
The game started to shift in the Heat’s favor every time their defense led to easy offense. The transition game has been a highlight of Miami’s season and took advantage of it against the Pistons, winning the turnover battle 16-9. They mad it a tough game from start to finish with their rebounding and physicality, led by Piston’s star Cade Cunningham’s 24 points and 8 rebounds.
The Heat shot 43% from the field compared to Detroit’s 38%. They also continued to make an emphasis on 3-point volume, attempting 47 shots from long range. That total is good to tie a season-high from a year ago. Miami’s ball movement also led to 24 assists over the Piston’s 14.
The team will now get a day off in preparation to host the visiting New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
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terrys best pg since timmy pls stay healthy.ty kept detroit in the game last night.bams playing fine we need him to rebound guard rim pts are secondary.w/o butler this team is prob lottery team.trade jimmy better get a stud in his place.the bad teams are getting better so no ez ws for us
whoa! way too far. Terry has not proven to be anywhere near Dragic or Chalmers. I’ll need to see him lead this team to the playoffs before I even compare him to Rafer Alston, Jason Williams, or Kyle Lowry.
Right now, I’ve got Terry Rozier in the same class as Damon Jones or Carlos Arroyo. He’s been good for a little while. That’s great. He’s got a long way to go before I put him in the top-10, let alone the top-5 Heat Point Guards of all time.
Rozier 19 pts vs ORL
19 pts vs CHA
20 pts vs DET
He could be exactly that consistent 19-20 ppg scorer we sought for when we got him. And with spacing, some ball handling, and athletic finishing at the rim. I really enjoy having Terry on the team personally regardless of if he keeps it up. But, during the offseason I definitely felt like heatnation were forgetting about him a little bit and how much potential impact he can make
Rozier is a big plus. But, in my opinion we still need one more scorer, just one, a 6’9 to 6’11” player who can score a few baskets inside, get occasional offensive rebounds, provide a little rim defense, shoot a few threes, and defend. He can’t be any shorter, and he also can’t just shoot threes, or just defend. We get that guy and we got enough, if we stay healthy. One to two years from now, Ware could be that guy. But, we need that guy now.
Who’s your model player for that role?
kuzma?
Beef stew?
Its a win, but I don’t like how Heat are playing. Players are running around a lot, but players are rarely in positions at their strengths, Jimmy, Bam and JJJ especially.
I think I get what you’re saying, I’ve been feeling it since preseason but haven’t been sure how to word it in a writeup. But it’s like they know what offense and what sets they’re intentionally running, but they don’t really own it yet? Kind of like watching a scrimmage drill in practice? Idk
Well, things like that:
Those are winning plays, but I don’t see much of those. Maybe they need to get use on pace a little bit. They play faster then ever, I believe.
We know what kinda offense that leads to though… Not good enough.
There’s gonna be some growing pains. I think Jimmy has showed the last couple games he can buy us the space to get through the adjustments.
I like the idea of defenses having to react rather than being able to gear up against a Butler drive, or a Bam mid post touch. In time I can see how we get to those elements of our offense with Jimmy or Bam already in motion, with a step on their defender.
Well, there is a long and winding road to get there. But, ok, we need to stay close to the top till play off.
Saw some glimpses of Jimmy Butler Superstar last night. It’s harder for him than it used to be but he still has some magic left and he got a few of the important baskets down the stretch when it’s hard for anyone else to score.
OTOH, that was a cold shooting Pistons team except Ivey during crunch time. It won’t always be like that.
New York will provide a real test.
Another good win. Any win is a good win.
I noticed the Heat were outrebounded again, this time by 10 (54-44). Other key stats:
Steals Miami 15 Detroit 6
Assists Miami 24 Detroit 14
Turnovers Miami 9 Detroit 16
FG% Miami 43.2 Detroit 38.5
3pt% Miami 31.9 Detroit 36.8
Free Throw% Miami 75 Detroit 82.4
The rotation will change over the next several games as Richardson and Love are slowly integrated into the offense. I hope Love’s situation is not serious. Once he returns, Ware will be at the end of the bench behind both Bryant and Love.
I think Spo will bring the younger players such as Ware, Larsson, Christopher, Johnson, etc., more slowly. All of them should benefit greatly by getting regular playing time in Sioux Falls once G League games begin in November.
One game at a time. . Wednesday’s opponent, New York (1-2), lost again, at home, against 4-0 Cleveland (110-104).
GO HEAT!
Interesting stats after 3 games on both offense and defense.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/MIA/miami-heat/stats/regular/
first half defense was a problem, Spo wanted more pressure on Detroit guards with JJJ/Highsmith combination. Thats why Jovic played only 14 minutes. So its more like matchup decision then something else.
Dunc is not good at the moment. Bam is even worse.
One stat that is starting be concerning is rebounding, as we are giving up a lot of offensive boards. Jovic needs to help shore that up or we need someone else. And when he isn’t in, we are at a distinct disadvantage. That guy Duren was bigger and stronger than anyone we had.
I agree. Jovic has to use his size on boards, defense and inside scoring. The size does no good if you don’t use it. Jaquez is 4″ shorter and plays inside game very well. He had 9 rebounds last night.
Why did Jovic barely play today? I didn’t see the game so I’m asking.
based on his resume of bball do u want him in there more than 14 mins
Spo used Highsmith /JJJ combo instead of him and it paid off defensively.
Its more like matchup thing then anything else. Jovic wasn’t that bad, but those two just brought more.
That is the correct answer.