The Miami Heat got out to a decent start on Tuesday against the Washington Wizards. Being without a slew of guys due to the league’s health and safety protocols, they would also still be down some guys with injury.
Max Strus was the latest Miami Heat guy to enter the protocols, but they would already be without Kyle Lowry and Udonis Haslem, where Haslem had actually found himself playing meaningful minutes in the last few games.
On top of that though, they were still without Bam Adebayo, Markieff Morris, P.J. Tucker, and Dewayne Dedmon. That was ok though, as the Miami Heat had enough.
The game started out back and forth, but by the time they got good into the first quarter of play, the Heat found themselves dominating. Though they tied in scoring to finish the second period, 27 to 27, the Miami Heat’s 14 point lead from the end of the first period was enough to send them coasting to the finish.
Well, that was almost the case, with the Heat nearly getting up 30 at one point in the third period.
The Miami Heat almost took their feet off the gas too much on Tuesday, allowing the Washington Wizards to make the game closer than it should have been.
The Washington Wizards would go on their own massive run to bring the game closer in the end, but it wasn’t enough.
Though they made tough shot after tough shot coming down the stretch, they could not overcome what they had already allowed to take place. Jimmy Butler proceeded to come down and hit three tough individual buckets for his Miami Heat when things looked like they could fall apart there in the end.
That was all it took for them to close this one out. Though they made it a lot harder than it should have been or needed to be, they would win the game by seven points, 112-119.
Jimmy Butler did seem to tweak his ankle down the stretch there, something that shouldn’t have ever happened because he shouldn’t have even been in a game that they had led by so much in, however, it happens, so you hope he is fine there.
It matters a ton, as he’s always your best player no matter who’s healthy, he just got back from a long absence with the tailbone, and they have another contest on Wednesday. They finish the second half of a back-to-back set in San Antonio, taking on a young spry Spurs squad.
If they bring the offense they brought on Tuesday, they’ll be fine. They need to bring a little bit more defense than they brought on Tuesday though or well, at least, more of it.
They seemed to lighten up a bit in the end and sometimes, that gets you beat. It didn’t on Tuesday and you just hope Jimmy’s ankle doesn’t swell on him too big after he had to come back in to carry them home.