All They Do is Win: Heat win eighth straight with beatdown on Kings.
By John Friel
For a span of 36 minutes, the Heat absolutely dominated the Sacramento Kings with a fluent offensive attack, impenetrable defense, and an overall amazing game on both sides of the court.
The other twelve minutes were the Heat’s worst during their winning streak which is now at eight.
Dwyane Wade finished with 36 points, six rebounds, and six assists to lead the Miami Heat to a 104-83 win over the Kings to end a 4-0 road trip. LeBron James had another modest performance with 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Bosh had a season high 17 rebounds to go with 14 points.
Sacramento’s star point guard Tyreke Evans was limited to five points, one rebound, and one assists in 30 minutes as he spent most of the fourth quarter on the bench. Omri Casspi was able to pick up the slack with 20 points, hitting five of seven from deep. Jason Thompson had 13 points, but had only four after the fourth quarter. Their star rookie DeMarcus Cousins played only 21 minutes and finished with six points and six rebounds.
The Heat didn’t get too much support from the role players on offense as Mario Chalmers led the way with eight points. They didn’t need it as the big three combined for 75 points.
Even though the Heat’s first offensive possession started out with an alley oop to LeBron James, it was all Kings after that with Thompson leading the way to a seven point deficit for the Heat to end the first quarter. It was the largest deficit of the Heat’s winning streak and it came against possibly the worst team. The Kings came into the game 5-15, good enough for the second worst record in the NBA.
It was all Miami after that as they used an early 15-0 second quarter run to give them a 37-29 lead. The Kings then used a run of their own to give them their last lead of the game at 41-40 before the Heat closed the quarter with a seven to one run. They finally broke it open with a run to give them their first double-digit lead that they’d keep the rest of the way.
There was plenty worth noting throughout the game as highlight plays and a couple technical fouls occurred for a number of moments during the game. Wade had a few dunks with none bigger than the put-back slam that he had late in the fourth quarter to seal another impressive victory for the Heat. It extended their franchise record of double-digit victories in a row with eight. It was their second consecutive win with a margin over 20 points.
Carlos Arroyo and LeBron James were each whistled for technical fouls with no surprise that Dick Bavetta was leading the officiating crew. Arroyo was t’d up for yelling at the referees after a play that he thought he was fouled on, but it was LeBron’s technical that got the most attention. Following his third three-pointer of the third quarter, James had turned to the Kings bench and clapped where he was then accredited with a technical foul.
The rest of the game was smooth sailing over calm seas as the Heat heavily relied on the big three for their scoring. Despite only scoring one point, Erick Dampier might have had the best showing by any player off the bench with four rebounds and three blocks. The three blocks came in succession as he sent back two of Samuel Dalembert’s and one of Casspi’s lay up attempts. He played seven less minutes than Ilgauskas, but he is beginning to prove that he could be the starter in the future.
The Heat had a season high in rebounds at 57 with Bosh leading the way at 17, James contributing 10, and Wade having another impressive rebounding day at six. The 57-36 advantage was their largest of the season and they now have outrebounded their opponent in every game during the win streak.
Miami improves to 17-8 and gets a day off before facing the New Orleans Hornets at the American Airlines Arena. The Heat lost 96-93 to the Hornets in a game in New Orleans earlier with Emeka Okafor having a career game at 26 points and 10 rebounds. This Miami team however is a lot different and has changed for the better over the eight game win streak.