The Heat – Blazers recap is one of redemption. The Warriors beat Miami by 20 points a few days earlier. The Pelicans beat Miami also by 20 points. Miami needed to take out their offensive frustrations on someone. The Fan site, blazersedge.com in their article here titled it perfectly — “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, the Blazers lose 142-82. The details of the game are more than the result, so let’s look at the recap.
Recap point # 3 — Heat put in work on offense and defense.
The Heat have had some games lately where their assist total was low. The Heat offense really clicks when their defense is creating turnovers and the ball is moving side to side. Players were making the extra pass and other players were making shots. Call this a “tune up” game late in the season. As per the website statmuse with their page here, the Heat set a franchise record for team assists (41). The Heat are 21st in the league at 25.8 assists per game so this game was a refresher. Portland’s most important Trailblazer, as in this article here on our site, Deandre Ayton had 18 points and 8 rebounds. The defense got 23 turnovers from the Blazers.
Recap point #2 — Portland was shorthanded.
The Blazers were shorthanded with Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simmons, Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams injured. Read Ira Winderman’s “Ask Ira” column here where he answers if this win was a statement. The team did what they were supposed to do and “took care of business.” No doubt about it, next season the Blazers will come to the Kaseya Center looking for payback. This article here in the Portland Tribune highlights GM Joe Cronin’s explosive first season running the team.
He played “hardball” with the Heat during the Lillard trade talks, then he acquired Deandre Ayton and picked up Malcolm Brogdon from Boston in the Jrue Holliday trade. This article here from Oregonlive.com highlights that although the Blazers have a good lineup “on paper,” injuries have limited their development.
Recap point #1 — Not many injuries.
Nikola Jovic had a knee bruise last night and had to leave the game. But, no other Heat player was injured. Kevin Love was available to play but wasn’t inserted into the game. Thomas Bryant filled in at backup center and had a good scoring night. This was a “pitfall” game for the Heat so a more competitive game coupled with a bad injury would’ve been terrible. Read this article here from the AP — the most important point was that Adebayo and Butler rested for most of the second half. Now, they face Washington in another redemptive game for a bad loss.
