The Miami HEAT fell to the Houston Rockets 108-91 Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Chris Bosh led the way for the HEAT with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Impact Performance of the Night: After being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday afternoon, Chris Bosh followed that up with another solid performance against the Rockets. Bosh caught fire and rallied the HEAT back in the third quarter with some timely perimeter shots. In all, Bosh shot 8-of-14 for his 21 points and also grabbed eight rebounds.
Dwyane Wade also had a pretty good night. Wade stuck the mid-range jumper and was very aggressive off the dribble in a 15-point first half. In all, Wade shot 7-of-11 for 19 points and also had three assists.
The Deciding Run: The Rockets went on an 11-4 run at the start of the second half to take a 68-59 lead with 7:15 left in the third quarter. The HEAT responded well and went on a 10-0 run that spanned the end of the third into the fourth quarter to close the gap to three. Chris Bosh led the charge with his hustle and passion during the run.
Play of the Game: With about five and a half minutes to go in the first half, Dwyane Wade played excellent defense on Trevor Ariza and forced a bad shot from the corner. Shawne Williams grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Mario Chalmers. Chalmers then rewarded Wade with a fantastic pass down court. From there, Wade finished the smooth reverse layup over a
trailing Kostas Papanikolaou to put the HEAT up 45-38.
Another nice play came with 11:06 left in the first quarter. Norris Cole swiped an errant pass from James Harden and passed it ahead to Shawne Williams. Williams passed up a 3-pointer and found Luol Deng in the right corner on his way to the hoop. Deng then finished the flush to put Miami up 6-2 early.
Efficiency Rating: Offensive Efficiency: 99.0; Defensive Efficiency: 121.5
Trend to Watch: After a solid outing against the Raptors on Sunday night, Justin Hamilton had perhaps his best game yet against the Rockets. Hamilton worked extremely hard on the offensive glass and kept possessions alive for the HEAT. He finished with nine points on 50 percent shooting from downtown and also grabbed seven boards (five of which were offensive). Hamilton had a tough assignment in Dwight Howard, but held his own for the most part.
The Takeaway: Despite the loss, the HEAT put up a great fight against one of the best teams in the NBA. Miami did well from the three-point line and tried to answer Houston from deep. The HEAT shot 12-of-28 from downtown, as six different players hit a trey. Shawne Williams found some open looks thanks to great ball movement and was 3-of-4 from distance. Williams finished with 14 points and five rebounds.
In the fourth quarter, the Rockets made some really tough threes even though the HEAT contested well. Sometimes you just have to live with that.
Game Highlights: