The Miami HEAT fell to the Houston Rockets 115-102 Tuesday night at Toyota Center. Luol Deng led the way for the HEAT with 17 points.
1. Deng Fights Hard After Halftime
With Miami down 71-57 in the third quarter, Deng was the catalyst on a 15-3 HEAT run to cut the deficit to two. He ended up with eight points in the period, including a great follow and two corner threes. The vet also defended James Harden for a majority of the game, which obviously took up a lot of energy. Earlier in the night, Deng also had a thunderous baseline jam off a nice set up by Goran Dragic. In addition to his 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, the former Blue Devil tallied eight boards and three assists.
2. Winslow Homecoming
In his first regular season game in his hometown of Houston, Justise Winslow played pretty well. The rookie got off to a quick start thanks to some great baseline cuts and scored six of his 11 points in the first quarter. He was also tabbed with guarding Trevor Ariza and Harden at times throughout the contest. In all, Winslow shot 4-of-5 for his 11 points and also grabbed eight rebounds.
3. Stoudemire Keeps It Up
While Amar’e Stoudemire continued to set hard screens as only he can, he did the majority of his damage on Tuesday night off put-backs and tip-ins. The vet fared well against a smaller Rockets lineup that was without a decent amount of frontcourt players. In total, STAT grabbed six offensive rebounds to give the HEAT a number of second-chance opportunities. As a result, he notched his second-straight double-double with 14 points and 10 boards on the night.
4. Dragic Sets the Tone
Early on against Houston, Dragic went to work in the open court. He continued to push tempo throughout the first half and got to the rim often. Still, the Slovenian also did damage in the half court. He drilled a jumper off an inbounds play and nailed a catch-and-shoot three from the top of the key.
Let’s take a look at a play that shows how dangerous Dragic can be. With 7:22 left in the first quarter, the point guard grabbed the defensive rebound and raced down court. He then absorbed contact from Patrick Beverley, who grabbed his arm, and still finished the nifty layup.
View the Play
Dragic finished the game with 14 points and a team-high six assists on 50 percent shooting.
Game Note: Tyler Johnson (shoulder), Hassan Whiteside (hip) and Chris Andersen (knee) sat out.
