The Miami Heat would be without a couple of guys on Friday night and one of those guys was Jimmy Butler. After badly turning his ankle in their last game against the Detroit Pistons, he would have another night off as his team took on the Thunder.
With the Oklahoma City Thunder’s record this season though, you would think the Heat would be able to handle themselves against the scrappy and athletic young squad. Especially since they would have, nearly, everyone else going.
The Miami Heat did just that too, coming out to jump on the Oklahoma City Thunder from the opening period, never leaving the game in much of a question. They would get started on the back of the hot shooting of Duncan Robinson, who came out and made three huge three-pointers to open the contest.
Duncan scored three 3s in the first 3 minutes btw pic.twitter.com/dNaKlGfvmh
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 19, 2022
He would then be tagged out by the Miami Heat’s other radioactive shooter, Max Strus. He would enter the game in the second wave for Miami and proceed to put on his own marvelous shooting display.
The Miami Heat needed to come out Friday, imposing themselves upon a lesser OKC. They did just that, behind more stellar Tyler Herro play and hot shooting.
His foray into the land of the deep shot would receive an exclamation mark from a shot that he put up from the logo. He, almost literally, took and dropped this one from Biscayne Boulevard.
MAX FROM THE LOGO pic.twitter.com/Rf4CKT9n5o
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 19, 2022
Along with their own tremendous shot-making in this one, the Miami Heat would also find themselves able to hold the Oklahoma City Thunder to a manageable number for most of the contest as well. Through the end of the third period, they only allowed a total of 79 points, while they had scored 103.
Though the game would finish in what seemed like a much closer fashion, that was because the Miami Heat fell back in the final period as they allowed the Thunder to score 29, while they only scored 17 points. The game was already, all but, over at that point though.
Tyler Herro continued his excellent play. He would go for 26 points, seven boards, and four assists, even though he had a slight injury scare near the end of the game.
He would be fine and so would Kyle Lowry, as he seemed to finally get some things going in this one. He would finish with 16 points, with four rebounds and assists each, while he made four of his seven attempts from range.
Bam Adebayo was aggressive, finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds, and three assists on the night. The two shooters had themselves a night, as mentioned.
Duncan Robinson finished with 19 points, one board, and one assist on 7-10 from the field and 5-8 from three. Max Strus finished with 12 points on 4-11 from three(12 total shots in the game), with four rebounds and two assists.
The Miami Heat handled their business on Friday, coming out to quickly dismantle the lesser team on the floor. They get a few days off to refresh, hopefully allowing them a chance to get Jimmy Butler back into the mix, before taking on the Philadelphia 76ers Monday in Philly.