Miami Heat Fire On All Cylinders, Beat Mavericks 105-96
By Wes Goldberg
96. 79. 105. 110. Final
I could say it, but I’ll hand Dwyane Wade the mic.
That’s right, Dwyane. To say the Heat executed their game plan would be like saying Jennifer Lawrence’s nudes got leaked. This game–and those nudes–changed how we thought about the Heat and J-Lawr forever.
And to think Josh McRoberts, our lord and savior of ball movement, only played 17 minutes. But it was the best game he played in a Heat uniform, or with his hair in a bun, even. Probably.
This is just a snippet at Miami’s new-found dedication to ball movement.
Meanwhile, Luol Deng went off for 30 points, but created very few of them. He was a product of Miami’s collective vision and passing attack. This season, Deng has replaced Wade as the cutter, while Wade–who had 10 assists tonight along with his 20 points–has graduated to distributing from the post.
Then there is Chris Bosh, taking what the Mavericks gave him and shoving it back into their shark-like face. He finished with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-6 from mid-range plus 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
The Heat got things started by hitting the first three shots of the game. Deng. Williams. Bosh. We were up 6-2. Then the Mavs scored back-to-back 3-pointers to take an 8-6 lead. Bosh gets fouled, hits both his free throws. Tyson Chandler scores on a put-back to make it 10-8 Mavs. On the next possession, Wade finds Deng cutting to the basket for an easy deuce. 10-10.
No one scored for a couple of minutes, then Jameer Nelson and Dirk Nowitzki hit a couple of shots. Dallas up 14-10. Then Norris Cole finds Deng for the assist and Wade hits the driving bank shot to tie the game, again. 14-14. The Heat and Mavericks are trading baskets until Bosh hits a running layup on a Chalmers pass that put the Heat up 22-20 with 1:54 left in the first quarter.
Miami didn’t trail for the rest of the game.
We just watched them extend the lead, up by as much as 21 points by the start of the fourth quarter.
“We showed great trust throughout the game, all the way to the end,” Erik Spoelstra said.
You would think it would be more than that. Like we find a weakness in the Mavs defense. But it wasn’t.
We’ve talked all season about the Heat’s recommitment to ball movement and tonight we saw it on display in lights. But it’s not as if much has really changed. The Heat still don’t run many set plays, instead relying on more reactionary ball movement.
Like I said, Wade is distributing from the post and you see that reflected in his assist numbers (6.3 assists per game this season compared to 4.7 last season). Deng is cutting and Bosh is still spacing the floor, but he’s showing his fangs rather than acting as a decoy.
Spoelstra isn’t calling plays. The players on the floor will call for a screen or for a player to come over and take the dribble handoff. But no real plays. Nothing was particularly drawn up for Deng save for an inbounds play at the end in which Wade and Bosh set the screen to give Luol an open 3. He just timed his cuts perfectly and his teammates were finding him.
Wade, with the ball in his hands more than ever in the past four seasons, isn’t running around off the ball anymore. He’s able to create–not so much like the Flash but more like the Green Lantern. Getting what he wants, when he wants it. All of these guys were playing their roles and reacting off of the others’ in order to create a reactionary mechanism within Spo’s pace-and-space ideology.
Rick Carlisle and the Mavericks could do nothing but watch hopelessly as Miami drained 55.3 percent of their shots. Of their 42 made field goals, 31 were assisted. That’s ball movement. And now we know, that’s the Heat’s identity.