Peak ‘Miami Heat Ball’ Differentiated By Pelicans Win and Hawks Defeat
Though both of the games looked similar, from the perspective of what was happening, the difference in the final results speaks to how it looks when a team like the Miami Heat is clicking on all cylinders, as opposed to most other teams in this shoot first and shoot last NBA of today’s era.
The Atlanta Hawks were able to go up big because of their bonkers first-half offense. Shooting 70 percent from the field and 70 percent from three, for the most part, in the first half, that’s hard to beat no matter what the opposition is doing.
That didn’t fully sustain though, which eventually allowed the Miami Heat a chance to actually win the game. Though Miami wasn’t able to fully close the gap, they got within just a few possessions of doing so after sustaining Atlanta’s napalm of a first half.
As the Miami Heat went up big on the New Orleans Pelicans, it wasn’t really due to their offense. They were average in the first half and if you must credit them somewhere, slightly above average overall from the field, at right around 59 percent from the field and 35 percent from range.
So, how then, did the Heat get it done?