The Miami HEAT defeated the Washington Wizards 91-88 Friday night at Capital One
Arena. Hassan Whiteside led the way for the HEAT with 22 points.
1. Whiteside Ensures The Win
With Washington trying to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter, Whiteside
answered the call and made sure Miami came out ahead. In fact, the 7-footer
scored 11 points in the period and took advantage of Jason Smith quite often.
That said, his best play of the night came on a superb and-one alley-oop over
Marcin Gortat:
On the flip side of the ball, Whiteside was extremely active and affected plenty
of shots at the rim.
Just check out these two blocks for proof of that:
In addition to his team-high 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting and two blocks, the
28-year-old also led the team with 16 rebounds.
2. JJ Responds
Entering the night, a lot had been made about James Johnson’s recent struggles.
That should be over now.
Johnson mixed up his approach against the Wizards with transition buckets,
catch-and-shoot threes and a clutch pull-up jumper like this one:
He also set up his teammates (mainly Whiteside) supremely well throughout the
contest. Basically, the 30-year-old looked like he did last season.
In all, Johnson scored 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, grabbed five rebounds and
dished out four assists.
3. Winslow Goes Off In The 2Q
The HEAT started off the game very well, and Justise Winslow played a big part
in that. In particular, the 21-year-old did a little bit of everything in the
second quarter. Whether it was guarding John Wall, blocking Gortat from behind
or punishing the rim and euro-stepping…
…Winslow simply balled out.
The former Duke Blue Devil finished with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting, seven
boards and two steals to go along with his aforementioned block.
Other Takeaways:
-Miami held Washington to a season-low 88 points on just 38.1 percent shooting.
While Josh Richardson didn’t score that much, he made things very difficult on
Wall. Dion Waiters did the same against Bradley Beal.
Richardson ended up with three points, two assists and a block, while Waiters
tallied 13 points, four boards, three assists, one steal and one block.
Game Note:
-Okaro White (left foot surgery) sat out. Rodney McGruder (left tibia surgery),
Derrick Walton Jr. (Sioux Falls assignment), A.J. Hammons (Sioux Falls
assignment) and Matt Williams Jr. (Sioux Falls assignment) were inactive.
Looking Ahead:
-The HEAT will now return home to face the Indiana Pacers on Sunday at 5:00 PM.
Tickets for that game can be found here.
Player: James Johnson
Player: Josh Richardson
Player: Dion Waiters
Player: Hassan Whiteside
Player: Justise Winslow
Media Content: http://www.nba.com/heat/newsrecap/heat-91-wizards-88-game-recap
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, Miami Heat, James Johnson, Josh Richardson, Dion
Waiters, Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow, Miami Heat
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Taxonomy: Game Recap
Story Link: http://www.nba.com/heat/newsrecap/heat-91-wizards-88-game-recap
