The Miami Heat came into Friday night’s game against the Washington Wizards about low as they could get. They are already struggling, generally, to begin with.
Add on to that, the fact that Washington had just found a way to beat them on Wednesday without Russell Westbrook in the lineup and you have a recipe for either gloom or motivation. The Miami Heat obviously took the “motivated” route.
Along the way though, you could see certain things happening. By no means am I declaring a win against the lowly Washington Wizards a turning point, but the way it happened did allow the Miami Heat to prove a few things to themselves.
The Miami Heat needed a get-right game and they had one on Friday.
The first thing that it allowed to prove is that they are the team that they thought they were when everyone comes to work. The Miami Heat are supposed to be a team that blows the doors off of one of the worst teams in the league, not let them hand around to eventually have a chance at victory.
They let them hang around on Wednesday and it resulted in defeat for the Heat. On Friday, they played no games.
They showed no mercy. By the time the second half rolled around, the middle of the third quarter and a 30 point lead, the Washington Wizards were pulling their starters.
This is what the Heat are supposed to do to teams like Washington. That was the first thing it proved.
Inside of how they got it done and outside of the actual results, was the performance of Bradley Beal. The Miami Heat held him to his lowest scoring total since a December 2018 game against Indiana.
Tonight was the first time Bradley Beal was held to single-digit points since December of 2018.
— Couper Moorhead (@CoupNBA) February 6, 2021
So, not only was the Miami Heat’s offense, aggression, and effort seemingly back, but that Miami Heat defense that we have become so accustomed to seeing was back in the building as well.
This isn’t the end all, be all. This, again, isn’t a turning point, as the Miami Heat now have to beat a few teams that they’re not supposed to.
They can and they will, you can count on it. On Friday though, they proved these things to themselves and that was something they had to do to have any hope moving forward.