Shocking loss against a dysfunctional team. The "Heat" couldn't shoot tonight for most of the game. The final percentages were 40 (30). Heaters and Haters, you are going to be the Washington Lizards if you play 82 games shooting like that. But neither could we play defense. D: 51% (50%). We couldn't rebound: 50- 41. Anthony Davis played one of his quota of 10% games tonight and he was a monster: 17 pts, 17 rebs, 3 blks in 28'. He dominated Bam on the boards and had as many rebs as Bam and Kel'el Ware combined. We played at a running pace, 101 possessions to 91, but when you can't knock down the shots, you might as well keep running! Interesting that given our rebound deficiency our points in the paint were 56 to their 44. It all, or most of it, came down to outside shooting.
We didn't have Norman Powell. I don't know who Erik Spoelstra would have started if he had been game. There's not enough ball for Norman and Tyler on the floor at the same time unless Spo clearly defines who the primary shooter is, and how to choose between Tyler and Norman. But having Norman available would have allowed Spo to sub in either Norman or Tyler for poor Andrew Wiggins, who was terrible tonight, 33' 11 pts 4/18 (1/3). It's hard to believe that all of our shooters except Tyler--Andrew, 3J (3/10), Simone (2/8), Pelle, mainly a playmaker (1/5), and Davion, mainly a playmaker and glue guy, 2/7 (0/2), ALL had off nights on the same night. But it is IMPOSSIBLE to believe that the contagion would have spread to Norman Powell, our highest percentage shooter, when it also spared Tyler.
What Spo could have done even if Norman had been available is play Kel'el Ware more. Kel'el was elite tonight. In 25' he had 22 pts on, note these numbers, 8/11 from the field, 4/5 from range. He also had 10 rebs, 3 more than Bam. He outscored Bam 22-21 while playing three fewer minutes. Dallas had no answer for Kel'el tonight. Imagine Norman and Tyler, Bam and Kel'el on the floor for the bulk of time, with Davion the de facto playmaker. Hindsight is 20/20 but I see the "Heat" smearing Dallas tonight with those five playing as a unit for the majority of the game.
This is the National Basketball Association. Teams are going to go cold. They are going to lose games unless they're Oklahoma City. Miami is 14-8. I'll take that every day and twice on Sunday.