The San Antonio Spurs snapped the Miami Heat’s three-game win streak Thursday night with a 107-101 win.
The Spurs are off to a 5-0 start for the first time in franchise history, while the Heat drop to 3-2 in the first leg of this four-game road trip.
Miami had chances to capitalize after a 17-1 run rewarded them with an 89-88 lead midway through the fourth quarter. But a late 16-5 Spurs surge — led by Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Harrison Barnes — all but put the game out of reach. The story was the Heat’s inability to secure long rebounds and close possessions.
San Antonio scored six second-chance points — both resulting in made 3-pointers from Devin Vassell and Barnes — over the final 5:30, the difference in the game.
Bam Adebayo scored a game-high 31 points in 12-of-27 shooting, including 4-of-13 from 3-point range. Andrew Wiggins added 24 points on 12-of-18 shooting while Simone Fontecchio continued his hot shooting, tallying 18 points on 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
The Spurs held the Heat offense in halfcourt for much of the evening, especially in the second half, when the offense flatlined. Their exorbitant ball pressure from Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle slowed the Heat offense and made them operate in the halfcourt, eliminating the tempo that has allowed them thrive over the first week of the season.
Victor Wembanyama led the way with 28 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and five blocks. The 7-foot-5 superstar repeatedly deterred shots around the rim and made Heat slasher second-guess about challenging him. He was excellent, even though he didn’t do a good job puncturing the Heat zone they deployed in the second half.
It was a hard-fought game for the Heat that was within grasp. They now travel for two straight in Los Angeles, beginning with the Lakers Sunday evening.
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The comment I liked best was that Wemby and the Spurs defense took away our ability to get downhill and get layups. That put us back to where we couldn’t use the fast pace.
We found out a lot. All the smart tactics in the world can’t cover up for not having enough players who can score. I keep harping that we need more, one more quality player to become really difficult to beat. Injuries are going to be a constant issue, so much so that it’s likely we will seldom have our full squad available. We will soon find out whether Ty can mesh with our new players and style. We already know Norman will make us better.
But, like someone said, the Spurs had injuries too. You need a lot of quality players to make a good team. We have a nice core now, but even fully healthy, I believe we will prove by results to be one player short. One more quality player, perhaps to take the Rozier spot if he isn’t returning, and we can win games like last night. Take heart in the fact that we are now close, very close, clearly better than last year.
we have 2 quality players norm bam gotta find one better than both and were in biz otherwise no shot at meeting in july bisc blvd
**scoring is not an issue rebounding is.dont mess with this team.playing like this we can get possibly #1 seed in east**
LOL! The above quote is from 2 days ago. TWO DAYS AGO!! Changes like the Florida weather. Take a breath, bro, it’s usually not as bad or as good as it seems in a moment.
in the weakened east maybe west 10 th seed
if jjj and simone keep on playing unexpectedly like they have and powell and herro come back i really believe we can beat anybody in the east
One of these years before we die though, maybe not this one. But, it’s got to be.
maybe in our next life 3.0 we might have crossed paths already 1/2 century ago
Growing up on the Beach, perhaps. Maybe at Ollie’s.
I agree with the comments here. Not a bad game. We lost, but the game was close even though we were missing our 2 top scorers. Bam, Wiggins and Simone stepped up. Some guys mentioned underperformed against the very good D, but they are young players, it will happen in some games. They need to work hard to get better.
It is a pity we lost, but hopefully we can get Norman and Ty back soon and find out what this team can do with both of them playing.
We for sure was missing are top 2 scorers, and having one back, would of probably helped us win, but they was missing good players as well. And that spurs D is better then very good, right now they’re probably the best D in the league or top 2 , and shut down are run and gun with wemby anchoring them. Also your right some of the guys did underperformed, so hopefully next game they play better. We did are best, even with refs being crap, so charge it to game, and get better from this.
Yes, SA is really good, they have made a huge leap going into this season. Before us they played against lesser teams so I thought we could win it. But it wasn’t a bad game by the Heat. Their D shut us down and it is a reason why some of our players underperformed. The spurs D was too good for them. 101 points scored speaks for itself. But there are positives. And we can learn from the negatives as well. And those refs sucked btw.
You’re not wrong for thinking that, I did like our effort, last year team wouldn’t be able to make comeback, after being down in the 3rd, and going on a 17-1 run. And dam right them refs sucked big time.
I think that was still a good game, a bit similar to Orlando one. Heat hang on till the end, and lost because some turnovers, bad plays, missing shots.
We have quality to be there even without playing well, which is a quality of a good team.
The star of the game was Bam, which overplayed Wemby. He played physical, which is a recipe against him. Simone and Wiggins were good too.
But Wemby effectively shut down Jovic, Ware and JJJ by taking away their inside game. When shots are not falling, those three doesn’t look good. JJJ contributed in other ways, Jovic and Ware didnt.
For Ware there is a confidence problem. He should shot at least 7-8 3p. Even missing them all would be better then passing back to the covered player.
I agree with you mostly about everything, except I don’t think Ware should be shooting that many 3s a game this year at least. I’m good with 4-6, he should take a page out of wemby book, and used that size shoot in the paint more. But like you said he has to be more confident. I think he will be better next game.
Normally I would agree with you, but there were several situations, where the ball moved around and find him at 3p for a clear shot. Instead of shooting, he passed it to another, covered player. He should take those.
Ok that’s a fair point, I hope spo, and the coaching staff help him iron those out, cuz he can’t be passing up good shots.
I had time to evaluate what happened tonight. Here’s my observations:
Bright spots
Bam had 31 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Wiggins had 24 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Fontecchio had 18 points on 5-7 3pt shots
Mitchell had 11 points on 3-4 3pt shots
This loss, like the one to Orlando, should get the players motivated to come out breathing fire against the Lakers and the Clippers. Hopefully, Powell is able to play by then. It looks like Herro may be coming back sooner than anticipated.
GO HEAT!!!
P.S. It was obvious Miami needed a closer (Powell).
One more Bam 3, Ware and Niko 2pts each and we win by a pt. Regarding the closer, Bam need to step up on that responsibility if no Tyler and Powell. I can also see Wiggs.
I think both bam and wiggs deserve a pass, since they both played great. Bam went for 30 and wiggy was taking it too wemby a few occasions, hit a big 3 plus they were playing good D as well. Niko in my opinion is the one that needed to step up. It’s his 4th year, just got the contract, and supposed to be one of our best shooters, when bam shooting 10 plus 3’s you know that isn’t a good sign.
Niko shots 40 % on 3p this year, which is not bad, but only 41 % overall.
So inside game is more of a problem.
I m not worried, sooner or later he will be better.
Of the team’s key rotation players, Jovic is, by far, the biggest disappointment. If Jovic, at 6’10” is not going to use his size to be an inside threat and to rebound better, then he MUST develop into a playmaking scorer. Last night, he had 0 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
If Jovic does not find a way to increase his scoring, rebounding and defense, he may find himself out of the rotation or on the trading block.
hes playing like hes been the past 3 years.why do u expect him to get so much better.he is who he is.hes giving effort all u can ask for
He showed more progress with Serbia over the summer. He still hasn’t learned to let the game come to him. He wants to make every play a highlight play. It doesn’t work that way. He needs to get his act together soon, like Jaquez did.
Good fight. Charge this to experience. 3-1 this west road trip still possible.
Heat lost because heatforlife was a no show. It’s all his fault.
I second that emotion! Or was it because you did show up. I have to do some research. Maybe the equivalent of offsetting fouls.
It straightened me out. Won’t be doing that again. I still prefer to dvr and watch it beginning about 45 minutes or hour after game starts so I can fast forward through ads and dead spots.
Skip commercials, timeouts and free throws, and the game will last an hour.
I m always irritated watching games alive, so much ballast. And Heat always loose when I watching games alive.
Yes, I prefer to dvr as well for that same exact reason. But I do like to watch live too, so I can comment during live action, If I can catch it on time tho.
bigs a no show this year gonna change your name to bigware305
Not my fault bro, I work most of the home games, and I have to control the crowds from getting crazy trying to get autographs, so I can’t comment on here like that. But I just be busy, I’ll try to better for the away games, I tried to make in time for this game, so I can comment. But my girl wanted some fun time in the bed, so I couldn’t pass that up lol.
no dead spots at hhh
Honestly? Fair trade.
17 football games 82 bball games,fins in a must win sit looked like the charlotte hornets.bam 27 shots im gonna change his name to bam herrobayo. 13 threes way to many only 55 has permission to launch that many.when the heat go against either big teams or young athletic teams its gonna be hard for them to win.,ware has got to contribute for us is it coaching or hes not the player we thought he could be.shows glimpses of greatness here and there but its not happening as of yet.