After a tough loss the day before, the Miami Heat bounced back with a victory over the Boston Celtics. Miami was in control throughout the whole game. The team now moves to 43-25 for the season. With the win, the Heat pull within 1.5 games of the Celtics for the No.3 seed in the East. Moving to the third seed would be huge because they could potentially avoid the Milwaukee Bucks should they advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Here are my four takeaways from Tuesday’s victory over the Celtics.
Adebayo steps up
The Heat announced before the game that Jimmy Butler would sit out with a sore ankle. With Butler out, the Heat’s other star Bam Adebayo stepped up. Bam was a force on both ends of the floor. He was very aggressive around the basket, scoring 11 points at the free-throw line on a career-high 18 free attempts.
đź’Ą @Bam1of1‘s on a mission tonight.
11 Pts, 8 Rebs & 2 Asts in the 1st half. pic.twitter.com/1MjL7iaLBX
— x – Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) August 5, 2020
Adebayo recorded his 40th double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Lineup and rotation change
With Butler out, the Heat went with it’s 12 different starting lineup of the season. Kelly Olynyk was moved into the starting lineup alongside Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn, Jae Crowder, and Duncan Robinson. Olynyk had another good all-around game with 15 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. With Olynyk starting, it opened up more minutes for Derrick Jones Jr.
Jones Jr. played 21 minutes against Boston on Tuesday after logging just 16 seconds against the Toronto Raptors on Monday. The Heat forward finished the night with six points and two rebounds.
Duncan bounces back
In the previous game against the Raptors, Duncan Robinson was unable to get going. The Raptors covered Duncan on nearly every possession of that game. Tuesday night, however, was a different story. Duncan was able to shake free and even had some nice cuts to the basket. He also hit two timely three-pointers late to help the Heat seal the game.
You can’t hit a three-pointer more perfect than this:
đź‘€ the net pic.twitter.com/bYsqTmQ0ys
— x – Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) August 5, 2020
Duncan finished the night with 21 points and made five three-pointers.
Goran’s lifts the Heat bench
Goran Dragic’s name should be mentioned more in the sixth man of the year conversation. And he showed why on Tuesday. Dragic’s scoring and playmaking were needed with the team missing Butler. Whenever the offense was sluggish, Spoestra would insert Dragic in the game to settle the offense. Dragic suffered an ankle injury with 5 seconds left in the game.
Dragic finished the game with 20 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
Next up: The Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. Game tips off at
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