The Miami Heat’s gimpy roster came up huge via fourth-quarter surge in first road game of the season, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime 131-126.
The Miami Heat flew into Milwaukee, home of reigning Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo, with a somewhat depleted roster for the second game in a row. Similar to Wednesday’s opening night win against Memphis, Dion Waiters, James Johnson, and Jimmy Butler were not in uniform for Miami. Johnson and Waiters continue to struggle with Miami Heat team stipulations, while Butler has delayed his Heat debut to witness the birth of his first child, a baby girl.
Miami trailed for the majority of the game but capitalized on a game-high 39-point fourth quarter to overcome the 11-point deficit they faced heading into the final quarter of play. Miami now moves to 2-0 on the young season with the Minnesota Timberwolves up next on Sunday.
With every win or loss, it calls for a few takeaways. Let’s dive into some of those.
1. Kendrick Nunn can become a consistent NBA starter.
Kendrick Nunn has impressed the organization and Miami Heat faithful since he was signed on April 10th. After a strong Summer League and a 40-point outing during the preseason, Nunn has started off his NBA career with a bang.
In the win over the Grizzlies, Nunn not only started the game, but scored 24-points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field. He followed up his opening night performance with an 18-point game against Milwaukee.
Nunn was on the floor for the bulk of Miami’s fourth-quarter comeback, where he didn’t see a basket drop, but also didn’t turn the ball over either. Nunn was thought to be filling in the void in the starting lineup that Jimmy Butler will fill upon his return to the team, however, head coach Erik Spoelstra has reportedly let the world know that Nunn would have actually started alongside Butler all along.
Erik Spoelstra just said that Kendrick Nunn was going to be in the starting lineup with Jimmy Butler.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) October 24, 2019
Tyler Herro was the one replacing Butler in the lineup.
Two games aren’t enough evidence to name Kendrick Nunn a consistent starter just yet, but the second-year pro is making a name for himself, while also making things a lot more challenging for Spoelstra. This is really a good problem to have though because in the NBA, you can never really have too many talented players.