The Miami Heat are used to this. More appropriately, they are built for this.
In order to be a Miami Heat player and a successful Miami Heat team in any given season, you have to be willing to buy in, they say.
From everything that’s ever been learned about them, that means to work harder than the next person or team. You have to be comfortable doing it the ugly way.
You have to be comfortable being the underdog and you have to relish the opportunity to succeed when all the chips are stacked against you, leaving the odds firmly in the favor of the opposition.
Well, most of that was certainly the case on Saturday night as they faced the best team in the league, record-wise.
Coming out to a back and forth affair, the Miami Heat found a way to stay in it, at least, that’s what it would have appeared the inferior of the two teams was doing.
In fact though, the Miami Heat were setting up to make their own move, as they went up by double digits midway through the second period, never looking back.
The Miami Heat aren’t even at their best yet, roster-wise, this season but they are doing some pretty impressive stuff. They could, indeed, be special.
From that point forward, they never let the Suns back into the contest, maintaining a lead of 13 or more points. Things got tight late in the game, where that 13 points was the margin in what seemed to be a Phoenix late-game surge.
However, Duncan Robinson would continue to highlight himself, as he had all game in a resurgent performance, knocking down two huge threes in back-to-back fashion to help push the lead back out to a very comfortable margin for the good guys.
Robinson would finish with 27 points, four rebounds, and one assist on 9/17 from the field and 8/16 from three. Tyler Herro would lead the team in scoring with 33 points, adding in five rebounds and three dimes of his own.
He shot 12/20 from the field and 3/4 from range. The entire team shot well from deep, tieing the franchise record with 22 makes in a game from deep.
The Miami Heat would cruise to victory, 123-100, over a very good Suns team that’s looking to get back to the NBA Finals this year after coming up short last season. Without Their best two guys, Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, along with a host of other guys that contribute, they walked into the best team in the league’s house and obliterated them.
That says something. Other teams should probably take notice.
Once fully healthy, which includes more than just Butler and Bam, this Miami Heat team could be very scary. Beware and the Phoenix win is just a glimpse of the possibility.