The obvious recap of the Miami Heat – San Antonio Spurs game is that the Spurs will be competing for the Western Conference title soon. It is not only because of Victor Wembanyama. It is because they have good young players that can be coached. The young Spurs gave the Heat all they could handle on the second night of a back to back. Here are some recap points:
Recap #1: The Young Spurs will be really good soon.
The young Spurs finished shooting 46% from 2 and 43% from 3 point range. They had 35 assists on 42 field goals. There were some nice sequences where all the players touched the ball, flash passing outside-in and back out. All of their starting 5 scored over 15 points with small forward Keldon Johnson scoring 20. Center Zach Collins held a heavy presence in the middle scoring 18 points and taking advantage of the Heat front court. Victor Wembanyama had some nice plays but he’s like Giannis when Giannis started. He needs to put 25 pounds of muscle before rising to expectations. Read this season preview article here on our site to see if any questions were answered.
Recap #2: Duncan Robinson is justifying his contract.
Duncan Robinson signed a 5 year, $90 million contract in 2021 because of his hot 3 point shooting. But, after he signed the contract, the rest of the league figured him out. As a Heat fan, every game, he slipped further and further out of relevance. His story was becoming a cautionary tale. He went to the gym and got a game similar to that of Reggie Miller‘s. He runs around screens, back cuts, puts the ball on the floor and goes hard to the basket. All the while maintaining that sweet shooting touch from three point range. Tyler Herro would do well to copy Duncan’s game. He went 8 of 16 from the field and had more field goals from 2 then from 3. He had the highlight of the night by fooling Wembanyama on a drive to the basket. Duncan Robinson may not, in the eyes of many, hasn’t justified his contract. Read Shandel Richardson’s article here from December 2022.
Recap #3: Play of the game sequence
The Robinson fake out of Wembanyama was good but it was the best play of the night. The best was with the score tied at 103. Wembanyama got the ball on the left elbow. Bam defended him and picked his pocket, triggering a fast break. Bam passed the ball to Robinson who was going in for a contested layup and put the Heat up 105-103. It showed what Coach Spo said in the post-game press conference that the game was a “character game.” The Heat came out in the first quarter “playing in mud” and getting their butts beat by the Spurs. The Heat closed the deficit to 5 at the half but the Spurs didn’t go away and kept making key shots throughout the game.
