4 notes from the Miami Heat’s loss to the Spurs

The Miami Heat became another victim to the San Antonio Spurs’ undefeated home record.

Though the Miami Heat entered Wednesday’s game as one of the hottest teams in the NBA, they were still no match for the San Antonio Spurs, who blew them out of the building 122-88.

Check out the full recap here. Here are a few notes:

1. No Deng means a sad Dragic

Luol Deng sat out the game with a thing injury, and the Heat missed his energy. Goran Dragic especially seemed to miss his running mate in transition, finishing with just four assists (his season average is nearly six) and never getting comfortable in the loss.

Josh McRoberts started at power forward in his place, with Erik Spoelstra opting to matchup as much as possible with the Spurs’ frontline of LaMarcus Aldridge and Tim Duncan. Spoelstra could have went with Gerald Green as an additional forward or even insert Justise Winslow. However, Green doesn’t matchup well and the Heat have liked Winslow coming off the bench with Josh Richardson and Hassan Whiteside. McRoberts scored five quick points to start the game, but could not maintain any consistent scoring. He wasn’t bad. In fact, he was even better than I thought he would be as the starter. But Deng has been so important to this team–especially for Dragic–and his absence was felt.

2. Shutting down Whiteside

The Spurs threw body after body at Whiteside, who was guarded by Duncan, Aldridge, Boris Diaw and Boban Marjonavic at different points in the game. The latter three got on him early in offensive sets, and tried to prevent him from getting to his spot near the rim. Duncan, meanwhile, did the same while also deploying some of his old man tricks.

Whiteside finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and when he got the ball near the rim he did a lot with it. But opponents have been throwing more bodies at Whiteside lately, putting a body on him early or trying to front him in the post to prevent him from either getting to his spots or receiving the ball at all. It’s something to keep an eye on.

3. J-Rich is the silver lining

Rookie Josh Richardson scored 17 points, including three-of-four from 3-point range, and finished with four assists, three steals and a block in 34 minutes. He played well against the Spurs reserves and helped to keep the Heat in the game early on. Richardson was the team’s highest scorer.

4. Kawhi is something else

Kawhi Leonard had one of the best offensive nights of his career, tying his career high with 32 points. He made three of his seven 3-pointers, including his first two which set the tone for the Spurs early on. He defended like crazy, per usual, and stole a lob to Whiteside right out of the air at one point. He looked like Richard Sherman on a pogo stick. I don’t like to compare Justise Winslow to Leonard–I think it’s unfair to get Heat’s fans hopes up like that–but a lot of people do and, if he can become anything like him, the Heat are in for a bright future.