By
It is the last half of the season and a lot of players are expected to fold in a sense of durability especially after the All-Star break but the Heat especially are maintaining and sustaining their lead in the Eastern Conference. Back-to-back games and the Heat still come out first!
Bam Adebayo, who led the Heat with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Tyler Herro had a smooth 27 points with a leading 8 assists. Even though the Heat were without their three starting players: Jimmy Butler (toe), PJ Tucker (knee), and Kyle Lowry (personal), and paired with a loss the night prior to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team still held down the fort.
“The fact that we can bounce back from that, shows how great our team is,” said Adebayo in reference to their comeback from the Bucks game, during the post game conference. The team constantly and consistently strives for the win together.
Coach Erik Spoelstra used zone defense to shake the Nets up. According to ESPN, Goran Dragic, the former Heat point guard, gave Coach Spoelstra his props for the nice play on D. “Spo tricks us with that zone,” Dragic said. “They really played well the zone. We kind of lost the pace of the game.”
What a night for Kevin Durant as he returned last night from missing 21 games this season including the All-Star game, where he was captain, due to a knee injury. Though it was a great night for the Brooklyn Nets star who had 31 points, the Heat were not looking to make it easy for KD's celebrated return. Kevin Durant had a solid opportunity to get a lead for the Nets with less than a minute left to end the game. Unfortunately, he did not make a critical 3 point jumper that would have given the team a lead so close to the end. “We’ve been doing that the whole season.” Adebayo said during postgame media. “This isn’t like one or two games, I’ve missed six weeks and we were still winning and I come back and we're the number one seed. Jimmy goes out, they’re still winning, PJ goes out, they're still winning… So it just shows the level of commitment all of us all have to this team and how we want this season to go.”
With a day break the team returns home tomorrow to face the Philadelphia 76ers with former Nets player James Harden. The Miami Heat are cooling at 42-22 and they’re the number one seed right now. The playoffs are months away but it's really looking like the Heat are fighting to make their debut.
Written by Anya Joseph
Post a Comment