It wasn’t all pretty, but the Miami Heat found a way to escape Sacramento with a 114-108 win over the Kings inside Golden 1 Center on Sunday night.
Miami still has a lot to clean up on both ends, but a win is a win. And the Heat can use any win they can get.
All that said, let’s dive into a few key numbers from Sunday’s win.
62.2 – The Miami Heat’s defensive rebound percentage
Skinny: Despite missing Domantas Sabonis and Maxime Raynaud, the Kings still finished a plus-eight in the rebound battle, including a plus-two on the offensive glass and a plus-four in the second-chance points battle.
That’s unacceptable for the Heat. Sacramento did a good job most of the night crashing the offensive glass, sporting a 37.8 offensive rebound percentage. This marks the second time this season that the Heat had a defensive rebounding rate of 63.0 percent or worse (they had 13 such games last season).
Miami is still in the top-7 for the season in that statistic, but it was an uncharacteristically bad game against an undermanned, smaller frontcourt.
7 – Giannis Antetokounmpo pull-up 2s
Skinny: Giannis Antetokounmpo found his groove from the mid-range, knocking down a career-high seven pull-up 2s. Understandably, Sacramento sagged off and tried to build the infamous wall. For Antetokounmpo, it looked like target practice for most of the night.
For one, it’s beneficial that Antetokounmpo is taking — and making — what defenses are giving him. But if I were to be super nit-picky, I’d like for Giannis to be more willing to either kick to open shooters, or initiate pick-and-rolls or (empty corner) DHOs to get him going downhill instead of settling for jumpers that defenses will live with.
21 – Heat’s advantage from beyond the arc
Skinny: God bless the Sacramento Kings. They entered the night 29th in defensive rating (in fairness, the Heat were 26th) with the sixth-highest 3-point percentage allowed.
That looked every bit the case Sunday night. Miami drained 18 threes at a 41.9 percent clip, including seven from Klay Thompson, three from Pelle Larsson plus two apiece from Davion Mitchell, Ryan Conwell and Davion Mitchell.
Miami finished with seven more makes from 3-point range for the first time this season and the 10th time since the start of 2025-26.
3 – Games in his last five where Klay Thompson’s made at least seven threes
Skinny: Speaking of Klay Thompson — he’s turned back the clock over the last 10 days.
The 14-year vet has made at least seven threes in three of his last five games. For perspective, he made seven threes just three times over the previous two combined seasons — and seven times since the start of 2023-24.
Over that five-game stretch, he’s averaging 21.6 points on 52.8 percent shooting and 50.0 percent (28-56) from 3-point range. He’s bombing away, and it’s beautiful.
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Those seven pull up twos from Giannis and Klay’s getting hot in the third probably saved us from some embarrassment. But, those performances are not going to happen every night as that was against a very weak defense