Miami Heat Makes and Misses: The corner 3, Dragic and Richardson
By Rob Slater
After a blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat responded with three quality wins that saw them get closer to their identity.
What a difference a blowout makes.
After a humiliating 25-point home loss to the Indiana Pacers that left the Miami Heat’s season in doubt with a tough stretch approaching, the team responded with a clean sweep of their games this past week.
First, it was the streak-ender against the Boston Celtics, a nail biter that ended their 16-game winning streak. The Heat then took to the road, with a wire-to-wire win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Followed by a sleepy matinee in Chicago versus the Bulls, that was too close for comfort.
Throughout the week, we finally saw the Heat inch closer to their true identity, a team that tirelessly defends (all three teams held under 100 points), moves the ball and gets up a lot of 3’s. The stagnant offense we spoke about last week only appeared during an abysmal first quarter in Chicago, but was quickly rectified during a season-high 38-point second quarter.
The positives were plentiful for the Heat this week. Goran Dragic earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors, averaging nearly 24 points over three games. Wayne Ellington continued his absolutely torrid pace from deep, hitting 13 of his 23 attempts over the course of three games. And we finally got a consistent glimpse of Kelly Olynyk’s full potential in Miami.
It’s a 3-0 week that brings about just one miss this time around, where we’ll get into what is wrong with Josh Richardson’s jumper and how he can better integrate himself into the offense to get his shot going.