Starters pulled, reserves shine, Herro has big night. Takeaways from another Heat OT win
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 134-129 overtime win over the Washington Wizards (14-29) on Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena. The Heat (31-13) improved to 8-0 in overtime games this season ...
1. The Heat’s starters allowed a huge lead to slip away to begin the third quarter, and coach Erik Spoelstra turned to the bench. The reserves played a big role the rest of the way.
The Heat entered halftime with a 19-point lead after shooting 56.1 percent from the field and 8 of 15 on threes over the first two quarters.
But the game was far from over, as the Wizards began the second half on a 19-3 run to cut the Heat’s lead all the way down to three just five minutes into the third quarter. That led Spoelstra to pull all five starters with 6:41 to play in the third quarter in favor of Derrick Jones Jr., Goran Dragic, Tyler Herro, James Johnson and Kelly Olynyk.
“We talked about it at halftime. We really wanted to come out with a great sense of urgency,” Spoelstra said. “You’re not trying to throw a knock-out punch, it’s more about our disposition, our focus, our attention to detail, the energy, efforts, everything. I had to call timeout and then the tide was still going. We had a 21-point lead and it evaporated like that. So I just felt like it was appropriate to get the second unit in there and see if we can change the energy of the game.”
The Heat’s bench settled things. After Washington extended its run to 29-9 to take a one-point lead with 4:48 remaining in the third quarter, the Heat closed the period on a 12-4 run behind its five-reserve lineup to enter the fourth quarter with a seven-point advantage.
Which reserves helped the Heat take back control? In the third quarter, Herro scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting on threes and Dragic scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field.
No comments: