With a big 3-point address (18/32, 56%), the Heat spent a quiet evening in Washington. A big victory (121-100) built in two stages, and it was Duncan Robinson who put his teammates on the right track. Two 3-point bombs in a row, and Miami already leads 10-2 after two minutes. Jimmy Butler attacks the circle permanently, and the 3-pointers continue to fall with Robinson always, but also Gabe Vincent twice. After twelve minutes, the Wizards are already relegated to 15 points (39-24).
The gap even reached 20 points thanks to Caleb Martin, and it was Montrezl Harrell who would wake up his teammates. He upsets Dewayne Dedmon, takes rebounds, goes alley-oop, and Washington signs a 13-2 to return to -6 (50-44). Spencer Dinwiddie is in passer mode, and he finds Kyle Kuzma for 3-point catch-and-shoot. At the break, the Wizards are only led by 7 points (60-53).
When you return from the locker room, it’s time for the “Bam Show”. The Heat take cover with a 10-0, and then it goes. Defensive stops, counterattacks, and the Wizards are under water. The many Heat fans are heard, and Jimmy Butler punctuates the quarter with an alley-oop on a 4-against-2 (91-70). Washington is asphyxiated, and Miami is not going to take its foot off the accelerator.
Back showers of 3-pointers with Max Strus, Caleb Martin and even Dewayne Dedmon. It’s falling everywhere, and Kyle Lowry is also getting started to bring the gap to 35 points. Opposite, only Cory Kispert clings but the match is already folded. Final victory of 21 points (121-100) for Miami which breaks the lead in the Eastern Conference.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– The 3-point address in the 4th quarter. The Miami players will start the 4th quarter with a 7 of 7 from 3-pointers! Kyle Lowry in the corner, Dewayne Dedmon at the 24-second limit… The rain fell everywhere for the poor Wizards. Four minutes from the end, when the match is folded, Max Strus will be the first to miss a 3-pointer in the quarter.
– Washington in distress. An audience chanting “Let’s Go Heat”, an assistant who gets confused with a spectator… The Wizards have had a nightmare at home, and they have 9 defeats in 11 matches. While they had started the season with 10 wins in 13 matches, here they are in 11th place.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Bam Adebayo. He hovered, both literally and figuratively, in the 3rd quarter. More enterprising in attack, he scored 14 points in the 3rd quarter alone, and he is the symbol of this tough team in defense and altruistic in attack. A full match in just 24 minutes.
✅ Jimmy Butler. Same feeling for Butler, very aggressive at the start of the game to hurt the defense. Like Adebayo, he is a star who leads by example in defense, and it rubs off on the whole group.
✅ Gabe Vincent. Kyle Lowry is back, but the Nigerian leader does not lower his tone. He’s the boss of the “second unit”, and his aggressiveness is contagious. When he loses a ball, he struggles to get it back. Like at the start of the 4th quarter where his aggressiveness allowed him to find Lowry at 3-point to definitively kill the match.
✅ Cory Kispert. Along with Rui Hachimura, he’s the only Wizard to float. He was announced as a shooter, and he mainly scored on circle cuts and counterattacks. His enthusiasm is not shared by everyone.
⛔ The Kuzma-Dinwiddie duo. Ghosts for almost the entire match, and what is unfortunate is that the two miss each other at the start of the 3rd quarter when the Wizards had the opportunity to pick up a little more on the score. Kyle Kuzma’s “sausage” is the symbol of his match, and we don’t know if the two will still be in the capital by Thursday evening…
THE FOLLOWING
Washington (24-29) : Thursday reception of Nets in the same state as them…
Miami (35-20) : continuation of the “road trip” with a trip to New Orleans on Thursday
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
