(Photo via Miami Heat/X)
The Miami Heat got themselves back in the win column on the second matchup of a West Coast back-to-back against the Sacramento Kings. They earned the bounce back victory with a final score of 130-117 on Tuesday night.
Miami got a balanced attack offensively from four starters in Ban Adebayo, Normal Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Pelle Larsson. Adebayo, after an abysmal 4-point outing on 1 of 13 shooting the night prior in a loss to Golden State, responded with a game-high 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists on an efficient 8 of 15 shooting. He also stepped up to spread the floor and knock down 4 of his 5 attempts from 3-point range.
Powell was also impressive once again, totaling 22 points on 50% from the field. The Heat outscored Sacramento by a combined 26 points in Adebayo and Powell’s minutes.
Wiggins also carried over his hot shooting from the Warriors game, as the veteran wing finished with 19 points. Miami also received great starting minutes from their key glue guy in Larsson— the sophomore guard had an all-around statline of 16/9/6 while shooting a near perfect 7 of 9 overall.
For the bench, coach Erik Spoelstra went five-deep with Jaime Jaquez Jr., Simone Fontecchio, Niko Jovic, Kasparas Jakucionis and two-way contract Myron Gardner. Kel’el Ware was sidelined due to a sore hamstring. That second unit totaled 42 points, with most of the scoring production coming from Jaquez and Fontecchio. Dru Smith, who had been a staple in a bench role for majority of this season, was the odd man out of Spoelstra’s bench group entirely in this matchup amid extended shooting struggles.
Sacramento received some scoring output from each of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Russell Westbrook and Malik Monk— but it ultimately wasn’t enough. In an early December matchup where the 14th seed Kings stole a win in Miami, LaVine went off for 42 points. That wasn’t the same case this time around, as the former All-Star guard was contained to 18 points.
The Heat shot an impressive 48% from the field and 50% from deep as a team. They held Sacramento to just 37% from 3-pointers, which was one of the biggest disparities of the game. Additionally, Miami controlled the basketball well with a 10-15 advantage in the turnover department.
After now improving to a 23-21 record, the Heat will look to secure two straight wins with their next game on Thursday in Portland.
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Interesting Fact: In his 13 year career, the quitter has played over 70 games in a season only once…in 2016-2017.
he saves himself for the playoffs.guys as smart as lebron;all his moves are calculated.he knows what the f hes doing.he knew he could only take the mediocre heat so far.he made us relevant when he was here and unfort his selfishness follows him everywhere he goes.but playoff jimmy was fun to watch, he fkd us over in the end so i have bad feelings for him now
Like an old girlfriend. Good while it lasted until it ended…badly.
Thank God Miami didn’t pay him the big bucks or we would have 3 wastes of money tying up over $105M (Quitter, Rozier and Herro) while getting nothing in return).
4 jovic
Not yet. Next year.
Ya’ll gotta remember…win or lose – they all still get paid!
Except Rozier. He might get a trip to the “Big House.’
didnt know terry plays for michigan now
Yup. He’ll be going in a tight end and come out a wide receiver.
by the time the trial takes place i might not be around especially with more niko minutes
Yeah let’s celebrate the team is Stu k right where it should be 8th place playin team and mediocrity abounds lmao.
Clowns to the left, jokers to the right…
here i am stuck in the middle with pat
Don’t lose faith heat cuz even the losers get lucky sometimes.
that was one lucky shot last night
Are you just being Petty? 😀
loverboy song?
Oh, you disappointed me.
Even the Losers
Song by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ‧ 1979
lucky ones lover boy great tune
Don’t do me like that and don’t come around here no more cuz I won’t back down. Capiche?
What a shit show that was. Its obvious that Kings are not a serious basketball team, its more like a group of guys, former players, gathered once a week for playing some ball, led by a part time coach.
And yet the Heat let them hang around almost till the end of the game.
Like a beer league team.
Portland is going to be tougher. They are improving.
Shit show, shit show on the dance floor…
Dr Jekyl reappeared last night. Doesn’t it seem like Pelle has a hand in a lot of the Heat’s best moments? Solid game by many of the Heat’s better players. Fonz is on an upward trend. It’s so nice when we get an extra contribution like that. Often that is involved in our wins, when we get something more from the supporting cast. Still, the Kings aren’t world beaters, but not a terrible team either. All in all, another night that brings hope and optimism that we aren’t far away.
the kings are turrbile.1 playoff appearance in 18 years.when westbrook and schroeder is your primary bc youve got issues.on to portland a little better of a team
You’re kind of right about the Kings. I guess I meant that they have some good players. But, actually, they are a bit of a cautionary tale. Still, it is hard to win on the second of a b2b on the left coast, so I gave a little credit for that.
Actually, quite a bit better this year. They have beaten some good teams lately.
u r what your record is 12 32 .
That game was fools gold. At this point, who needs Riley? We are gaslighting ourselves. Sacto is a very bad team. 4th worst team in NBA, yet they hung around. Heat looked sloppy last night but Kings looked even worse.
The problem is no consistency. We usually beat the bad teams 2 out of 3 but lose 2 out of 3 to the good ones. Like running in place…going nowhere.
Time for a change in direction. This path is going nowhere but an annual trip to the play-in round and a first round exit.
just pull off a ny knick pacer laker type trade and were back.fax a resume over sun work from home.hope do u save your hundreds pages of trade proposals.the hardest working non heat employee the sunman from unknown regions
u need a reference have them contact me
Bam for “Cry Baby” Townes? You make the call.
id prefer julius randle of the three
bam bam bigelow u mean for townes .townes has the athleticism of duncan ill take the wrestler
I have several trade ideas but they fall on deaf ears. Riley is going all in for Giannis (or bust/retire) this summer. He’s trying to save assets until then.
im listening.ill send pat some hearing aids
Just spitballin…
yes (nurkic in the big house?) yes yes yes no