The Miami Heat came out on Friday like a team that needed a win. They also came out like a team that had just taken a beating from the same team that they were facing.
To be frank, they jumped on the Washington Wizards from the opening tip on Friday and never got off of them. This was the type of game that we all needed from Miami.
That’s from all perspectives. We needed this game to restore faith and hope.
They needed this game to prove to themselves that they are still that team from last year and to provide a much needed spark or boost moving forward, hopefully.
Outside of the general excitement of the win though, there was something very specific about this game that stood out. It was something that we called for earlier on Friday, actually.
It was an aggressive Bam Adebayo. He was the key to this Miami Heat victory.
The Miami Heat need Bam Adebayo to be aggressive all the time and he was on Friday night.
Bam Adebayo started the game in flat-out attack mode. He opened the first quarter going 11-11 from the free throw line.
That’s what we like to call a double whammy in the biz. Listen, to get to the free throw line that many times in one quarter of a game, the opening quarter, is amazing.
To knock down all 11 attempts though, now that’s just awesome. Listen, it’s as simple as this though.
You make shots and you miss shots. That’s not the issue.
It’s totally different to miss shots than to never take them at all. That is typically his issue and that wasn’t an issue at all on Friday night.
He was aggressive! He took his shots!
He shot his mid-ranged jumper, he drove the ball to the cup, and he even called for the ball on mismatches. He attacked where and when he was supposed to on Friday, more often than not and that isn’t always something we can say about Bam.
This Bam Adebayo gives the Miami Heat a chance to win each and every single night. Perhaps he had that realization betwixt the two Washington games?
We sure hope so and it looked like it on Friday. We shall see what happens moving forward, but on Friday, it was Bam Adebayo that propelled the Heat to victory.