The Miami Heat were almost whole! Well, since the NBA’s Trade Deadline a few days back, the Miami Heat were as whole on Thursday night as they have been since wheeling and dealing as they did.
While Kendrick Nunn would be in uniform, he didn’t see the floor. Though the Miami Heat had more than enough to get the job done, they dressed him just in case, but thankfully had the room to allow him more time to let his ankle continue to heal.
Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro continued upon their resurgent ways, starting to look more and more like the pair of players from last year’s NBA Finals run than the guys that they have been this year as every day passes since the trade deadline. But, nonetheless, none of this is the real story.
The real story of Thursday night’s win was the play of the Miami Heat’s absolute latest addition. That would be Victor Oladipo.
The Miami Heat landed Victor Oladipo and his value was on full display in his very first game.
The Miami Heat controlled the game throughout, but there were times where things seemed as though they were slipping from beneath the Heat’s grasp. The Miami Heat allowed the Warriors to close a sizable gap in the first half, while they allowed them to think they still had a shot with the final seconds of the fourth ticking away from the clock.
On both occasions, it was Victor Oladipo making plays for the Miami Heat to help calm the waters. Specifically in the second half and as the game came down to a close, the Miami Heat had just previously allowed Stephen Curry to hit two shots that only he could hit in those moments.
With the game getting to a place of real question again and with time dwindling away, Oladipo calmly brought the Heat’s offense down, and patiently made something happen. He broke the defense down, drew the help defender, and found Tyler Herro for an easy lay-in bucket.
It seems simple and not so big in the grand scheme of it all, but the Miami Heat have only had one guy who could do that for them at the end of games and that was Jimmy Butler. We’ve grown accustomed to how they played him and then packed the paint for the occasion where he did manage to get there.
This was a welcomed sight and something that should only evolve as time continues. The Miami Heat almost looked like that same scary team from the NBA Bubble last season on Thursday and that’s total honesty.
Victor Oladipo had a huge part in that. That’s why you say that his value was on full display Thursday, in just his very first game in Miami.