Playing against the star-studded Brooklyn Nets, the odds were already stacked against the Miami Heat. Still, the Heat played with great heart and determination. Unfortunately, turnovers and a missed opportunity to call a timeout hurt the team late. With the loss, Miami moves to 6-9 on the season.
With that said, here are my three takeaways from Saturday’s loss in Brooklyn.
Bam’s career night
This night was clearly about Bam Adebayo. Without Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, Bam continued to play with aggression by taking advantage of the Nets’ lack of defense. Bam scored at all three levels of the court, including hitting two buzzer-beaters. Bam was clearly in his bag on Saturday. Hopefully, he continues this aggressive play when Miami gets their full roster back.
A 41 point night for @Bam1of1
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 24, 2021
the last HEAT player to do it (reg season):
🐐 @DwyaneWade pic.twitter.com/LyfvTvlB9E
Bam finished with a career-high 41 points, five rebounds, and nine assists.
Shot-making an early issue
Turnovers have long been an issue for the Heat all season, but Miami did a good job limiting those. And with Brooklyn being a poor defensive team, Miami had a lot of wide open shot attempts. The problem was they couldn’t drain them. Miami’s role players could not get anything going early on. Kelly Olynyk missed his first five three-point attempts before making his first three of the game.
As a team, Miami shot 26 percent from behind the arc in the first half.
KZ gets an opportunity
With Moe Harkless (thigh contusion) going down in the second quarter, Miami started KZ Okpala in the second half. Okpala showed a lot of positives on the defensive end, including a two handed block. However, he does need to get better with his decision-making on defense. There have been times were he gets lost on the defensive end. Offensively, he has shown promise in his ability to hit the corner three. That will get better with more minutes on the court.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 24, 2021
Okpala finished with three points, two rebounds and one block in 10 minutes of action.
Next up: At the Brooklyn Nets again on Monday. Game tips off at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Check us out on our socials:
Twitter: @PTSTNews and @TalkPrimeTime
Facebook Page: Prime Time Sports Talk
Join our Facebook Group: Prime Time Sports Talk
Instagram: @ptsportstalk
Follow Jacari McRae on Twitter @JMcRae23
Main Image Credit:
