After a tough outing against the Hawks, the HEAT responded with a 106-101 wire-to-wire victory over the Bulls Saturday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Let’s get into some takeaways.
SHOP
1. Jimmy Answers In The Fourth
With Chicago threatening to steal the game, Jimmy Butler made some key plays on both ends to keep Miami ahead.
In fact, he led the squad with nine points and two steals in the fourth, with no sequence as impressive as this one late in the period:
Earlier in the contest, Butler was everywhere defensively and dished out great feeds to his teammates as usual.
When it was all said and done, the 31-year-old amassed 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 shooting from the line, eight assists, five boards, a game-high four steals and a plus-nine rating.
2. Nunn Stays Sharp
Long story short, Kendrick Nunn continued to show he’s a bonafide scorer.
In addition to drilling catch-and-shoot treys, he also utilized screens well and knocked down pull-up middys throughout the night.
And like Butler, he came through down the stretch with this incredible block on Garrett Temple in transition…
…and two clutch free throws to put the HEAT up 105-101 with 12.7 seconds remaining.
Talk about getting it done.
Nunn finished with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, including 4-of-8 from distance, and a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, five rebounds, two assists and that block above.
3. Duncan Sets The Tone
So…Duncan Robinson was on fire early in this one.
Seriously, he couldn’t be stopped in the first half, as he hit his first four shots and led all players with 18 points at the break.
And while six treys were part of his first-half flurry, none of them compared to this one:
Wow.
Of course, Robinson also continued to make plays off the dribble and off cuts, with this bucket late in the fourth absolutely vital:
Player development at its finest.
Robinson ended up with a team-high 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including 7-of-15 from downtown, six rebounds, one steal and a game-high plus-16 rating.
Other Takeaways:
-Although Bam Adebayo put Daniel Theis on a poster again early in the second quarter…
…his impact went well beyond that.
Time and time again, Adebayo set up his teammates very well, attacked the basket and emptied the tank like this:
All. Effort.
Adebayo concluded with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 shooting from the line, a game-high 10 assists, six rebounds and two steals.
Game Notes:
-Goran Dragić (lower back; right knee - injury recovery) and Tyler Herro (right foot soreness) were active scratches.
-Victor Oladipo (right knee soreness) was inactive.
Looking Ahead:
-The HEAT will continue their homestand on Monday at 8PM when they host the Bulls once again. Tickets for that game can be found here.