The Miami Heat faced the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night in the Mile High City. Whether it was the elevation or motivation itself, the Heat just didn’t have it.
The Miami Heat came into this game riding high. They had just come off arguably their best performance of the last few seasons in a Sunday night victory against the Houston Rockets. They beat the Western Conference contender by 29 points with a final score of 129-100, setting a franchise record for points scored in a quarter with a 46 point first quarter along the way.
Tuesday night was nothing like that for this Miami Heat team. As a matter of fact, some would even call it the complete opposite. As opposed to the game against the Houston Rockets, where it seemed as though the Heat could hit anything and everything, the game against Denver saw them struggle mightily from the field.
Individual struggles were, of course, a huge part of the team struggle as a whole. Bam Adebayo didn’t look like himself for much of the night.
It showed in his line as well, as he only went for six points and three assists, although he was his usual aggressive self on the boards with 11. His 2-9 shooting performance from the field and 2-5 shooting performance from the free-throw line bothers you as well, especially seeing him miss a pair back to back in one two-shot sequence as he did in Denver.
Kendrick Nunn hasn’t been his same self over the last two games either. He’s hit timely shots, but he hasn’t been his same bursty self.
Although the Houston game was a blowout in Miami’s favor, he only had five points on 2-10 shooting from the field and 1-5 shooting from three. Against Denver on Tuesday, Nunn was a little better but not good enough, going for 11 points on 4-14 shooting and 2-8 from three. He needs to get back to himself quickly and especially if the Heat want a shot at going two of three on this road trip.
No one had a spectacular game. Jimmy Butler led the Heat in scoring with 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
Justise Winslow and Meyers Leonard both had 10 points each, while Kelly Olynyk tossed in 13. Olynyk also went 4-5 from downtown while Goran Dragic went 2-3, but other than those two, the Miami Heat shot rather poorly from three as a team.
They might want to shake this one off and refresh rather quickly as they are now headed to take on the resurging Phoenix Suns in a Thursday night showdown. They are off to a 5-2 record as well and appear to finally be turning the corner.
This is before the Heat head to Los Angeles to face the Lakers on Friday night. With two tough games before them, the Miami Heat need to watch the film and forget about this performance in Denver. While they’ll need to be crisper on both ends in their next two games to have a chance, they also need to do what they can to make sure they don’t come out as cold from the field as they were on Tuesday.