Jacari McRae | November 4th, 2019
Before the Miami Heat heads out for their three-game road trip, they had to take care of business at home. And that’s exactly what happened. The team dominated the Houston Rockets from start to finish and never looked back. With that said, here are my four takeaways from the Heat’s victory over the Rockets.
Record-setting first quarter
The Rockets entered Sunday’s game having the second-worst defensive rating in the NBA. Miami immediately took advantage of that with a 46-14 lead after the first period. Yes, 46-14. It marked the most points the team has ever scored in the first quarter and it was the largest margin the Heat has ever won the first quarter by. Great ball movement and defense played a huge role in the period. As a team, the Heat shot 16 of 23 (69.6 percent) from the field. They also recorded 14 assists on 16 made baskets in the period.
James Johnson makes season debut
With Justise Winslow sidelined, it opened the door for a James Johnson sighting. Johnson was tasked with defending the league’s top scorer James Harden. In 20 minutes of action, Johnson provided stout defense, playmaking, and scoring. Johnson closed the night with 17 points. As stated before, there’s going to be nights like these when James Johnson’s number will be called. And Johnson was ready on Sunday night.
Robinson’s career night
Sunday night was very kind to Heat guard Duncan Robinson. Robinson drilled a career-high seven three-pointers against the Rockets. He also did a great job of grabbing the boards and competing on the defensive end. This sequence below was his best moment of the game.
Nice little sequence for Duncan Robinson. pic.twitter.com/Xvga2OiRYI
— Couper Moorhead (@CoupNBA) November 3, 2019
Robinson closed with a career-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 7-of-11 from three, a career-high six rebounds, and a career-high two blocks.
The (Wait)ers continues
When the Heat announced Saturday that Dion Waiters was active, I figured he would at least be on the Heat bench. But once again, there was no sign of Waiters. There were, however, multiple reports stating he was working out in the building while the game was being played.
This will be the sixth game Waiters has missed so far. He’s seven missed games away from missing out on his $1.1 million bonus, which was included in his four-year $52 million deal he signed in 2017.
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Main Image Credit:
Main Credit Image: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjx2Zmv1tDlAhXDl-AKHQIEB2sQjB16BAgBEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheatnation.com%2Fmedia%2Fduncan-robinson-studying-aiming-imitate-klay-thompson%2F&psig=AOvVaw0lNQ3WsZwxCmhFLOIT689M&ust=1572960942549018
