The Miami HEAT defeated the Detroit Pistons 111-104 Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Kelly Olynyk led the way for the HEAT with 25 points and 13 rebounds.
1. The K.O. Show
From the very beginning, Kelly Olynyk was just in a different gear. The 7-footer got going in a hurry with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the first quarter, including a perfect 3-of-3 from deep.
Thanks to all those treys, this nifty shot-fake and jam worked to perfection early in the third quarter:
While Olynyk fared quite well going right at Eric Moreland throughout the third, his best play of the night would come in crunch time.
Yup, we’ve seen that before.
In addition to his team-high 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 13 rebounds, Olynyk also tallied three assists.
2. Dragić Wheels & Deals
Simply put, Goran Dragić broke down the defense time and time again and kept the ball moving against Detroit. How so? Well, the Slovenian led all players with a whopping 13 assists. Yes, 13.
Of course, Dragić also knocked down a few catch-and-shoot threes and came through with a bunch of nifty drives, including this scoop shot that kept Miami ahead late in the contest:
On the flip side of the ball, Dragić did a nice job against Ish Smith for most of the night.
When it was all said and done, the 31-year-old amassed 24 points and five boards to go along with his game-high 13 assists.
3. JJ Returns
After James Johnson’s initial return from right ankle bursitis didn’t go as planned, the forward made sure he impacted the game this time around. In particular, Johnson picked up steam in the second quarter with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including this nice and-one finish off the pick-and-roll:
Also note the great ball movement by the HEAT (the team actually tied a season high with 29 assists on 43 made field goals on Wednesday night).
A little later, JJ knocked down a big corner three to put Miami up 101-96 with 4:34 remaining.
In all, Johnson had 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from deep, four rebounds, one assist and a plus-14 rating.
Other Takeaways:
-To nobody’s surprise, Josh Richardson led the HEAT with five made treys and competed extremely hard on the defensive end against both Avery Bradley and Tobias Harris. Richardson ended up with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting and five assists.
Game Note:
-Justise Winslow (left knee strain) sat out. Dion Waiters (left ankle sprain), Okaro White (left foot surgery), Rodney McGruder (left tibia surgery) and A.J. Hammons (Sioux Falls assignment) were inactive.
Looking Ahead:
-The HEAT will continue their homestand Friday night at 8:00 PM against the Knicks. Tickets for that game can be found here.