The Miami HEAT fell to the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 Monday night at AT&T Center. Dion Waiters led the way for the HEAT with 27 points.
1. Waiters Does It on Both Ends
With Miami mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter, Waiters really shined down the stretch. In fact, the 24-year-old scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the final period thanks to some transition layups and tough pull-up jumpers. Earlier in the contest, the former Syracuse star contorted his body and converted a bunch of nifty reverse layups.
That said, Waiters really came to play on the defensive end as well. He played very stout defense and rose to the occasion when matched-up with Kawhi Leonard at certain points in the game.
One of Waiters’ better plays of the evening came on the defensive end at the beginning of the second half. With 11:19 to play in the third, he read the passing lane and swiped an errant pass from Leonard. He then took it down court and passed it to Hassan Whiteside for the jam.
In addition to his 27 points, Waiters also amassed three assists, three blocks, two steals and two rebounds.
2. Whiteside A Monster on the Glass
Whiteside really started to get going towards the end of the second quarter, as he cleaned the glass extremely well and gave the HEAT a bunch of second-chance opportunities. The 7-footer was also quite efficient from the field, hitting his first seven shots on the night. While he did a lot of damage off dunks early on, he also mixed things up with hook-shots too.
One of his best plays of the night came early on in the contest. With 7:44 left in the first quarter, Whiteside set a good screen for Justise Winslow and rolled to the hoop. From there, Winslow took a dribble, hit Pau Gasol with a shot-fake and threw a pin-point bounce pass to Whiteside for the dunk.
In all, Whiteside scored 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting, grabbed 17 rebounds (six offensive), blocked two shots and stole the ball twice.
3. T. Johnson Comes Through Late
In addition to his 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, Johnson also grabbed eight boards and dished out six assists against San Antonio.
Other Takeaways:
-James Johnson played excellent defense early on in the fourth quarter as the HEAT were surging. With 10:43 remaining in the game, he blocked David Lee inside and then forced an air-ball on LaMarcus Aldridge on the Spurs’ next possession.
Miami as a whole really amped things up defensively in the second half, as it forced San Antonio to shoot just 26.2 percent after halftime.
Game Note:
-Goran Dragić (sprained left ankle) and Wayne Ellington (right thigh contusion) sat out.
Looking Ahead:
-The HEAT will now head back home for a matchup with the Hawks Tuesday at 7:30 PM. Tickets for that game can be found here.