1. No amount of missing elite talent was stopping this game from an offensive explosion early on, but only one team was able to sustain.
Miami may not have had Jimmy Butler and Phoenix was down Kevin Durant but both sides came out firing, threes falling from all over. Kevin Love came out with 15 point in the first quarter, hitting a couple threes, scoring on a few high-low passes which appeared to be a point of emphasis for Miami given the regularity they were attempting those with, and banking in a face-up jumper. Then Bam Adebayo, after going scoreless and getting into foul trouble in his opening shift, burst out of the gates in the second quarter with 17 – the third highest scoring quarter of his career – hitting his usual jumpers as Phoenix centers backed off in the middle and working his way to the stripe.
Nobody did more damage, than Grayson Allen (31 points on 19 shots), though. That may be a surprising name to read, but Allen has somewhat quietly become one of the league’s better and most consistent shooters over the past couple years and when you’re at that level you’re liable to explode just as someone like Duncan Robinson can. Going into this game Allen’s career high was eight threes in a single game. He had seven midway through the second quarter, opening with a couple from the left corner before burying five more above the break as Miami went to heavy zone usage – eventually getting out of it given how well Phoenix was shooting – for the fourth consecutive game. Phoenix takes the first half, 62-55, with a late burst as both teams combined for 16 triples.
Devin Booker (20 points on 9-of-19 shooting) and Bradley Beal (25 points on 18 shots) opened the second half with zero intention to slow the Suns’ roll, and even as Miami canned a couple of threes Phoenix stretched their lead to 17, eight points coming from that pair along with two more assists. Miami was getting decent looks, granted more from the outside and in, but the makes just weren’t there at the end of a long road trip. The activity and intent were not lacking, only the sharpness of the blade being swung and thus, the results. Phoenix takes the quarter, 32-20, and a 19-point lead headed into the final stretch.
With Phoenix playing some prevent offense for most of the quarter, Miami found some success with late-clock doubles on Booker and Beal to force tough shots. Had a handful of swing plays gone differently, this may have become a game. But it’s tough to mount a fourth-quarter comeback when your threes aren’t falling. Erik Spoelstra pulled the starters with just under two to play, and Phoenix wins, 113-97, as Miami completes a 2-3 road swing.
2. When you’ve been watching the league for long enough you learn not to overreact to certain situations. Back-to-backs, for one. The end of long road trips, for another, especially those on the opposite coast. Not every night is going to be an ideal circumstance, and postseason games are never played in the same context.
So, it’s fair to take one look at Miami’s 10-of-37 from three, 27 percent, and toss it out the window. Sure, maybe there’s some regression coming after such a hot start to the season up and down the roster, and situations like this are part of why every teams cools off a bit over the course of 82 games, but when your legs aren’t there your legs aren’t there. It’s not as though the Suns were aces defending the line, though credit them with some good contests borne out of Miami’s general lack of paint pressure. Same goes for the defense, though unlike the shooting which has been so good for so long the defense has shown holes this season that have been noteworthy. Even though Phoenix didn’t have the same paint volume as other recent HEAT opponents – with two mid-range master and the threes, they didn’t need it – there were still straight-line and blow-by drives that have popped up a bit too often for comfort. This one won’t be worth particularly deep analysis, that’s just one trend to monitor.
3. Nobody is going to care about a pat on the back after this one, but both Love and Adebayo played more than well enough to win. Adebayo finished with 28 points on 19 shots after an 0-of-5 start, doing the sort of things – jumpers, drives, drawing fouls, bailing out stagnant offensive possessions – that have become an everyday quality for him. Love came out hot from the perimeter, setting up either his own post seals or identifying his teammates attempting to do the same, as his at-the-five backup lineups continue to juice the offense by sheer force of floor geography.
Pretty much everyone else had a rough night, and there isn’t much more to say. The HEAT, about to get a pair of needed days off, probably aren’t going to spend too much time with this film. Nor should they. Not every big victory is worthy of celebration nor is every loss like this deserving of indictment. You pick up, get on the plane, and head home.