The Miami HEAT fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 99-83 Thursday night at Moda Center. Dwyane Wade led the way for the HEAT with 23 points and seven rebounds.
Impact Performance of the Night: Dwyane Wade was in attack mode from the onset against the Trail Blazers. Wade drove inside and had a quick start to the game, as he scored nine points in the opening quarter. From there, Wade attacked from the post for a majority of the night, but he also hit a few jumpers. In all, Wade scored 23 points and grabbed seven boards.
The Deciding Run: Portland took its first lead of the game with about eight and a half minutes to go in the third quarter thanks to a 9-2 run to start the second half. The HEAT fought back, but it unfortunately wasn’t enough.
Earlier, Miami went on a 10-2 run to go up 43-33 with 5:08 left in the second quarter. Hassan Whiteside played very well on both ends throughout the run.
Play of the Game: With 9:05 left in the second quarter, Norris Cole drove to his left after Hassan Whiteside set a screen for him. Cole then threw up a lob for Whiteside, who rolled to the basket. Whiteside soared in the air to finish the alley-oop and put the HEAT up 33-29.
Another nice play came with 9:52 to go in the first quarter, when Mario Chalmers drove inside and attempted a tough lay-up. Chris Andersen followed the miss and came through with a huge, put-back slam to put Miami up 4-0 early.
Efficiency Rating: Offensive Efficiency: 93.0; Defensive Efficiency: 105.8
Trend to Watch: After going with a bunch of different starting lineups at the start of the season, the HEAT used the same lineup for the fifth-consecutive contest on Thursday night. The Chalmers-Wade-Deng-Bosh-Andersen starting unit has continued to be Spoelstra’s go-to. While it hasn’t led to as many wins as you would like, Miami has had quick starts in a lot of games recently and the starting unit is a big reason why. The fact that there is a consistent starting lineup since everyone is healthy is a good sign. Hopefully with more playing time together, there will be more success down the road.
The Takeaway: Miami started off the game very well in the first half, as its perimeter defense kept the Trail Blazers in check. The HEAT held Portland to just 38.8 percent shooting from the field in the first half, including 2-of-14 from downtown. However, the Trail Blazers started to get hot in the third quarter and took it from there.
Once more, a bright spot for the HEAT on Thursday night was Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside made an immediate impact when he checked in early in the second quarter. He scored six straight points for Miami in the quarter and also affected plenty of shots at the rim. In all, Whiteside had 10 points, eight boards and four blocks.
Game Highlights: