The Miami HEAT defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 113-99 Tuesday night at Smoothie King Center. Dwyane Wade led the way for the HEAT with 25 points.
1. STAT Cooks Early, Whiteside Finishes
With New Orleans mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter, Hassan Whiteside came through in crunch time. In fact, the 26-year-old tallied nine points and six boards in the final period alone. He was an absolute monster on the offensive glass and came through with a number of second-chance opportunities.
Earlier in the contest, Whiteside was able to get into a nice rhythm, as he hit his first six shots on Tuesday night. Among those, he converted a jump-hook, baseline jumper and alley-oop jam. Of course, he also swatted three shots on the evening. In addition to that, Whiteside finished the game with 24 points and 14 boards (five offensive) on 10-of-11 shooting.
Amar’e Stoudemire, meanwhile, scored 10 of Miami’s first 16 points. He did so thanks to his usual movement around the rim and activity on the offensive boards. In all, the vet tallied 16 points, nine rebounds (five offensive) and two blocks.
2. Backcourt Wreaks Havoc
From the start, Wade had his entire repertoire on display against the Pelicans. Whether it was turnaround baseline jumpers, post-ups, drives to the rack or finishes in transition, New Orleans simply had no answer.
One of his more impressive plays came towards the end of the first quarter where he followed his own miss and scrambled to grab the offensive board. From there, he split two defenders, absorbed contact from Alonzo Gee and finished the finger roll.
While Wade was engaged throughout, his six points in the fourth quarter were very important in the victory. In addition to his game-high 25 points, he also grabbed seven boards and dished out three assists.
Goran Dragic, meanwhile, did most of his damage in the second half. The Slovenian scored 14 points in the final two quarters, including two 3-pointers, to help the HEAT stay ahead of the Pelicans. In total, the 29-year-old had 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
3. Bench Produces
As usual, Miami’s second unit provided a nice spark off the bench. In particular, Justise Winslow played quite well on both ends. He knocked down a few mid-range jumpers in the first half and also turned a great steal into a one-man fast break in the second quarter. Although he was guarding Tim Frazier on that play, the rookie often found himself on Jrue Holiday for most of the contest. Winslow made things difficult for Holiday and helped limit him to just 7-of-23 shooting. The 19-year-old finished with eight points, six rebounds and three assists on 4-of-6 shooting.
Let’s also not forget about “Rook 2.” Josh Richardson had yet another thunderous dunk on Tuesday night. This time around he blew by Toney Douglas for the two-handed flush.
Game Note: Chris Bosh and Tyler Johnson (shoulder surgery) sat out.