First Half:
The Heat were on fire to start this one with Rozier, Butler, Duncan and Adebayo all getting going early on to take a nearly immediate 11-5 lead. Dallas’ offense was porous as the Heat slashed into the pain with ease going 6-6 from the field.
The Heat didn’t slow down with Duncan extending the lead. On the other side Dallas didn’t have answers early on with the only buckets coming from Luka and Tim Hardaway Jr. Jaime and Duncan continued to drop bombs from beyond the arc leaving the Mavericks scrambling. The Heat would lead eight headed into the second quarter.
The Heat continued its assault on offense, but Dallas started to find its groove at the same time with some highlight plays by Lively and easy buckets by Doncic. Miami’s stellar three point shooting kept them afloat, but not by much. The Mavericks managed to get within three and old Heatle Derrick Jones Jr. had some highlight level attempts to try and close that gap, but Miami’s reserves maintained the lead thanks to Jaquez, Highsmith and Rozier. Dallas would tie things up with just over three minutes remaining in the half but Bam, and Duncan made that short lived. Duncan was spectacular in the half going 4 for 4 from three, as was Bam who was elite on both ends(Bam even attempted a three). Rozier is also coming into his groove, and should have had a lot more points given how often his shots rimmed out. The Heat escaped into the second half up four, but Dallas was right on its heels.
Second Half:
Duncan picked right back up start the third with his fifth three, as did Terry who continued his fantastic slashing for some very pretty buckets.
Unseen for most of the season were these Miami hot starts, but when they’re happened we can’t help but appreciate them. Still like before Dallas would find its groove and punish the Heat for leaving guys open and tie things up again. Jimmy was really quiet in this one after tweaking his wrist in the second quarter, surprising given his last stretch of games.
Dallas would eventually take the lead with Doncic getting to his usual spots on a 7-0 run. With Dallas alternating from slashing to shooting beyond the arc, Miami was unable to find answers on defense. The Mavericks kept going extending their run (14-2) and lead eight. Things weren’t out of reach for Miami, not at all – but momentum did not favor the Heat whatsoever. Rozier fought to keep Miami in striking distance, but with Doncic and Hardaway rolling things didn’t look great.
A Caleb Martin four point play would give the Heat some life, and Jimmy opened the fourth with a nice bucket while Jaquez hit a three point look. Suddenly the Heat were within five. With Terry hitting his fourth triple of the night the Heat were making its move, but the “Luka Magic” that was mentioned heavily on the broadcast was in full force.
The Heat had a chance in the closing minute but unfortunately, they just couldn’t match Dallas’ firepower down the stretch despite its best effort.
The Heat fought hard, they just needed a little bit more tonight.
Fun game. 1st qth was at champion level. The rest, not so well.
As I said, Dallas is top 10 team in the league, desperate to get a win. It was a good game from Heat, another player contribute a bit more would cut it.
Some shots just didn’t fall for Jimmy and Bam then missed fts and also not much ft attempts. Rozier played very well got a double double and highest scorer. Also Luka just made some incredible plays for a triple double!
Some teams can slow Jimmy a little now, which used to not be the case. And Bam can be neutralized to some extent too. It was the defense that happened last night more than their shots just not falling. Getting Rozier and having a third option is and will be crucial down the stretch. Hopefully, we will learn how to use Wright and Mills and that will help us too. Mills should give us another three point threat, while Wright will provide ball handling and defense.
Great game by Scary Terry. Off games by Bam and Butler (14 points each) won’t cut it. If either one has a regular game, we win. Jovic had another not-so-good game (4 pts, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers). I sure would like to see Spo use Wright more to tire out their guards. Oh well. On to OKC tomorrow night.
GO HEAT!!!
Everyone talks about Jovic’s stats with other players. Seems to me it’s the other players, not him. All I ever see is an error prone player who looks like he belongs in a lesser league. I wish Bryant had his minutes. Bryant makes some nice plays in the little time he gets.
They played bigger in the 2nd half…i.e.. their bigs played more minutes in the 2nd half and that bothered the Heat. Another lesson for Spo who is so fixated on small ball to a fault.Every team in the league knows that size bothers the Heat.They have seen it all in the finals for the past 4 seasons.
Didn’t see this one, appreciate the write-up. Sounds like the Heat had the lead for the first half; its tough to beat a West Coast playoff team on the road at this point in the season, and it’s about the most excusable loss. A couple more tough games against the Thunder and Nuggets before the schedule gets easier. If they can win 1 of those they’ll be in good shape going down the home stretch
should have won this game, had the lead most of the time and the mavericks are small, soft, one-dimensional team that relies on kyrie and luka to do everything on offense
I agree we should of won, but they changed some stuff around that wasn’t doing during there losing streak. They played D, and killed us on the offensive boards. Also got just enough help from gafford,exum,and pj. There playstyle I admit is lame ,just overly relying on kyrie, and Luka. Which is why they won’t make if far in the playoffs.
i know you cant win them all, though its just alarming that we always lose to contenders
I wouldn’t call mavs a contender, but I get what you’re saying. We could of won this though, if either Jimmy or bam played good, but both of them was off tonight.
bams been off for a while.buckets wasnt engaged till the 4th.jimmy needs to take the most attempts every night 12 attempts aint gonna cut it.i think the recent play of terry is very encouraging although on switches because of his lack of size he gets killed,im not worried about the eastern teams think we have good chance to get to finals.
We definitely have a good chance to make the finals especially, everything will work itself out.