The recap of the Heat – Mavericks game is rebounding. The Heat do not win games when they are outrebounded by their opposition. It was also Luca, Luca, Luca. Luca Doncic had a big third quarter and sparked the other Mavericks players to make shots. Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler had off-nights scoring. Look at this article here from Sunsentinel.com where Jimmy Butler was facing a lot of double and triple teams. This was a “morale boosting” game for the Heat as I said in my article here on our site for their second half preview.
Recap point #3 — Mavericks outrebounded Heat.
The Mavericks had 16 second chance points sparked from 10 offensive rebounds. Look at this article here from mavsmoneyball.com on the Dallas rebounding. That was the game right there. They ended up outrebounding Miami 45-38. It was not a huge rebounding edge but it was enough to control the pace of the game. Look at the Miami Heat’s beat writer, Ira Winderman in his “Ask Ira” column here. The Heat missed Kevin Love as the rebounding power forward. Winderman also suggests that adding another big man rather than the guards (Patty Mills, Delon Wright) may have been better.
Recap point #2 — Luca shooting in 3rd quarter.
Luca Doncic showed why he is an elite player. He took timely shots and made them. Then, when the game was in doubt, the supporting players like Kyrie Irving and Dante Exum made crucial three point shots to put the game away. Look at this recap article here from “Dallas Basketball” on SI.com saying that when Exum entered the game, the communication between players improved and he helped spark those third and fourth quarter runs.
Recap point #1 — Heat lost a road test, get another.
This is a crucial two game road trip as the Heat will play the Thunder tonight. The Thunder played Wednesday night at Portland, so they are reasonably rested. Look at this repost article here on CBSSports.com about Gordon Hayward‘s debut game for the Thunder in Portland. Miami played well in the first half versus Dallas–the ball was popping from player to player and they were choosing good shots. They competed the whole game and had a chance to win late. They will be ready for the Thunder tonight.
