Hassan Whiteside’s strong effort propels Miami Heat over Mavericks
By Cory Sanning
The Miami Heat and Hassan Whiteside went to work against the Dallas Mavericks, on Monday night.
The Miami Heat have taken their fans on a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride so far this season, filled with plenty of highs and lows.
Coming into Monday night’s showdown with the Dallas Mavericks, the Heat had dropped two of their last three and were longing for a breath of fresh air from one of its key contributors. They received just that in the form of center Hassan Whiteside.
In just 26 minutes of action, Whiteside recorded 25 points and 14 rebounds, on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, as the Heat overcame the Mavericks in Dallas, 95-88.
Perhaps it had come from an earlier conversation he had had with head coach Erik Spoelstra the day before, as pointed out following the game
"”I sat on it, I slept on it, and I thought about it a whole lot,” Whiteside said. “Just different things and different challenges he had for me, both from what we’ve seen out there.”"
Josh Richardson had another solid outting with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. In his return from injury, Goran Dragic tallied 13 points to go along with 12 from Kelly Olynyk. Overall, the Miami bench combined for 29 points, as it continues to overcome nagging injuries.
Harrison Barnes led the Mavericks with 20 points, followed by Wesley Matthews with 19 and Dennis Smith, Jr. with 14.
Contrary to the final score, Miami trailed for much of the first half. Despite jumping out to a seven point lead in the first, Dallas would use a 7-2 run towards the end of quarter to claim a four point advantage, capped off by Devin Harris’s jumper with 2.9 seconds remaining.
The Mavericks would manage to keep things tight for much of the second, but following a Tyler Johnson 3-pointer with under five minutes to play in the half that broke the tie at 38-35, the Heat never trailed.
Miami would head into the locker room with a 51-46 advantage, outscoring Dallas 44-42 the rest of the way, including holding them to a 15-point third quarter. Miami’s mantra all year long has been their defense, and they backed that up, holding their opponents to just 38 percent shooting.
This will mark the 14th regular season sweep of Dallas in Miami’s franchise history, a series that the Heat have owned since losing in six games in the 2011 NBA Finals. Except it’s not LeBron James or Dwyane Wade dominating those match ups now, it’s Whiteside instead.
When speaking with reporters following the game, Spoelstra offered high praise regarding his big man’s performance.
"”He had some great games like this where he’s really put his fingerprints on the competition to impact winning,” Spoelstra said. ”You felt his presence from the very get-go, and it’s all now about the consistency night in and night out.”"
Leading by as much as 18, Miami appeared more comfortable and poised than it did at home against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, and that’s something they’ll be looking to fix as tougher challenges lie ahead.
Now 29-21 as the midway point of the NBA season has now passed, the Heat will be looking to continue their winning ways before departing for a mini-vacation during All Star weekend.
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Facing the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers in their next matchup, Miami will be looking to gain some ground on them in the Eastern Conference standings.