The Miami HEAT defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-98 Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena. Dion Waiters led the way for the HEAT with 29 points.
1. Waiters Does It Again
There are hot starts and then there are the kinds of starts that Waiters had on Monday night. Thanks to drives to the hoop, pull-up mid-range jumpers and spot-up threes, the bullish guard scored 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting in the first half alone.
While that was great, Waiters hit the dagger three from 32-feet out to put Miami up 106-98 with 12.2 seconds remaining in the game.
In short, it was yet another fantastic performance from the 25-year-old. In addition to his 29 points on 12-of-24 shooting, including 5-of-9 from deep, Waiters also had five assists, two boards and a block.
2. Dragić Comes Up Big In The Fourth
Although Goran Dragić fared very well through the first three quarters, his play in the final period was vital in the victory. After primarily attacking the basket early on, the Slovenian knocked down two 3-pointers in a 10-point fourth quarter. Not to mention, he also had two steals in the period, with one of those coming on LeBron James. In all, Dragić scored 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and dished out a team-high six assists to go along with those aforementioned steals.
3. 3llington
With Tyler Johnson out, Wayne Ellington filled the void and continued his torrid shooting. In particular, Ellington drilled all three of his 3-pointers in the third quarter to extend the HEAT’s halftime lead. As usual, the 29-year-old moved very well off the ball to get clean looks. As a result, he finished the night with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-10 from downtown, four rebounds, four assists and a plus-11 rating.
Other Takeaways:
-Like Waiters, Hassan Whiteside had a very quick start to the game. In fact, the big fella was quite active on the defensive end in the first quarter. For a perfect example of that, look no further than this possession early on in the period.
With 7:02 left in the quarter, Iman Shumpert attacked the basket and went up for a layup, but Whiteside pinned it to the backboard. Although Kyrie Irving grabbed the offensive rebound, Whiteside quickly erased his shot attempt too.
Later in the contest, Whiteside got going on the offensive end with a few thunderous jams. The 7-footer finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and an assist to go along with those aforementioned blocks.
-After hitting 18 threes the last time out against Cleveland, Miami followed that up with 16 more on Monday. While Waiters and Ellington led the team with five apiece, three other HEAT players drilled at least one shot from beyond the arc.
-Rodney McGruder and Okaro White did a great job of defending James throughout the contest, while Josh Richardson did the same against Irving.
Game Notes:
-Luke Babbitt (back spasms) exited the game in the first quarter and did not return.
-James Johnson (right elbow laceration), Tyler Johnson (sore left shoulder, sore neck), Justise Winslow (right shoulder surgery) and Josh McRoberts (left foot stress fracture) sat out.
Looking Ahead:
-Up next for the HEAT are the Hornets on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM. Tickets for that matchup at AmericanAirlines Arena can be found here.