The Miami HEAT defeated the New York Knicks 110-87 Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Hassan Whiteside led the way for the HEAT with 22 points.
1. Whiteside Goes Off In The Third
Although Whiteside nearly had a double-double in the first half, he really balled out in the third quarter.
I mean, really balled out.
In fact, the 7-footer tallied 13 points on 4-of-4 shooting, four boards, two blocks and a plus-23 rating in the period.
Not only did he protect the rim well like on this sequence against Mario Hezonja (also note the three from Goran Dragić on the other end)…
…but he also threw down a bunch of alley-oop jams, with no better example than this one-handed crusher with contact courtesy of Rodney McGruder:
That duo is fun to watch, isn’t it?
In addition to his game-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, Whiteside also led all players with 14 rebounds, three blocks and a plus-30 rating.
What a performance.
2. McGruder Keeps It Up
The Rodney McGruder Show just keeps on rolling.
From the opening tip on Wednesday, the 27-year-old did whatever he wanted against the Knicks.
And while he kicked things off with this nice and-one finish in transition early on…
…McGruder continued to mix things up with his usual nifty runners and catch-and-shoot treys.
Of course, feeds like his aforementioned lob to Whiteside and stout defense on Tim Hardaway Jr. were also part of the equation.
When it was all said and done, McGruder amassed 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 3-of-3 from deep, six rebounds and five assists.
3. Richardson Perfect In The Second Half
After a little bit of a slow start, Josh Richardson flipped the script in a big way in the second half.
How so?
Well, he scored 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting after halftime.
That’s nuts.
And although the 25-year-old led all players with five made triples on the night, he also found other ways to score, including this tough conversion at the rim:
Richardson ended up with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and eight rebounds.
Other Takeaways:
-Duncan Robinson made his NBA debut and launched his first career attempt shortly after checking in.
Of course, it was a three.
Robinson finished with three points and four boards in a shade under 10 minutes of action.
Game Notes:
-Justise Winslow experienced some tightness in his right hamstring prior to the game and did not play.
-James Johnson (Sports Hernia Surgery), Dion Waiters (Left Ankle Surgery) and Yante Maten (Sioux Falls Assignment) were inactive.
Looking Ahead:
-The HEAT will continue their homestand Saturday night against the Portland Trail Blazers at 8PM. Tickets for that game can be found here.