The Miami Heat verses the Orlando Magic had the makings of a great back-and-forth game, but that all changed after halftime. Miami went on a 14-0 run to start the third quarter and didn’t look back from there on route to a 96-70 rout of the Magic.
In the first half, both teams went to work – Miami with good ball movement and everyone hitting jumpers, and Orlando with Dwight Howard, who got all of his 19 points in the first half. The game stayed close - the largest lead was nine points (with Miami winning), the game was tied seven times in the half, and there were eight lead changes.
But Miami came out strong after halftime, with LeBron James hitting a three pointer followed by Dwyane Wade hitting two three pointers. The Heat stepped up defensively in the third, causing turnovers and bothering the Orlando shooters (who went 0-9 from three point range in the quarter). They allowed Orlando to score only ten points in the quarter, and forced six turnovers which they turned into easy offense and points in the transition game. The Heat turned a five point halftime lead into a 24 point lead at the end of the third quarter.
Miami held Orlando to 30.4 percent shooting, its worst as a team since November 3, 2003, and only five assists in the entire game. Head coach Erik Spoelstra has been stressing the importance of defense since training camp, and he was very pleased with the results last night.
"The guys now can't go back on this," Spoelstra said. "They've shown me what we're capable of defensively and I will hold them to this standard now in terms of the effort. The effort was great.”
On the offensive end things were clicking as well. Wade was busy in many ways – hitting three pointers, driving off of pick-and-rolls, driving and dishing to the open man, and running the floor well. The Heat’s ball movement was excellent throughout the entire game, as players consistently passed up decent shots to give the ball to a player with an even better shot. This led to nine different Heat players scoring in the first half, and everyone contributing on the offensive end throughout the game.
Wade seems to have fully gotten rid of the rust that was there two games ago, and finished with 26 points on 9 for 20 shooting, with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. James, on the other hand, was more of the point guard and play-maker last night, as he drove and found the open man well. He finished with 15 points on 6 for 13 shooting, with 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 turnovers (much better from his first two games in which he had 8 and 9).
Bosh finished with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Udonis Haslem pitched in one as well, with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment