The Miami HEAT defeated the Charlotte Hornets 98-95 Friday night at Time Warner Cable Arena. Dwyane Wade led the way for the HEAT with 22 points.
1. Captains Come Through in the Clutch
As been the case all season, both Wade and Chris Bosh got the job done in crunch time. With Miami down a point with 26 seconds left, Bosh aggressively drove inside against Marvin Williams, absorbed contact and finished the play. He also hit the ensuing free throw to give the HEAT a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
A big reason why they stayed ahead was due to a fantastic steal by Wade with less than 10 seconds to play. To start the sequence, he swiped an errant pass that was intended for Kemba Walker and then passed it to Luol Deng from the deck for the slam.
Wade was sharp for a majority of the night, but he really got going in the second quarter. The vet scored 12 straight points for the HEAT in the second, as he hit a bevy of floaters and also a turnaround baseline jumper. However, nothing could prepare the Hornets for what came with a little over a minute to go in the first half.
To start the sequence, Deng had a fantastic steal after Nicolas Batum tried to get the ball to Walker. From there, Deng threw it up ahead to Wade, who took a few dribbles and elevated high for the one-handed jam with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Batum in the vicinity.
Wade finished the game with 22 points and five assists on 11-of-20 shooting. Bosh, meanwhile, tallied 20 points and six boards.
2. Whiteside Does It Again
Like on Wednesday against the Mavericks, Hassan Whiteside made an instant impact once he checked in. Within 40 seconds of entering the game, he had already blocked Cody Zeller twice in succession. Whiteside’s presence inside led to a number of other transition opportunities for the HEAT.
While he had a great start to the contest, that was just the tip of the iceberg for the center. Whiteside went on a nice run at the start of the fourth quarter to help Miami chip away at Charlotte’s lead. In fact, he scored seven points alone in the final period. Having said that, it was all about his defense and rim protection. No block was better than one he had with 3:20 to go in the game.
On that play, he swallowed the shot attempt by Williams with one hand and passed it to Goran Dragic, who eventually found Wade in transition.
Whiteside was simply fantastic on Friday night, as he notched a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocks.
3. Dragic Has A Great All-Around Outing
While Dragic didn’t push tempo as often as he usually does, he did a lot of damage in the half court. The Slovenian set up his teammates masterfully throughout the contest and had a game-high nine assists. In terms of his own scoring, Dragic hit quite a few jumpers both off the dribble and off screens. In addition to his nine assists, he also scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds on 5-of-10 shooting.
Game Note: Jarnell Stokes (D-League assignment),Tyler Johnson (shoulder surgery) and Chris Andersen (knee) were out.
