Jacari McRae | January 23rd, 2020
For a moment in the second half, it appeared the Miami Heat were heading towards an embarrassing loss. After trailing by as many as 21 points in the first half, the Washington Wizards stormed back into the game and took the lead. But then, the Heat recovered and pulled out an overtime win over the Wizards. Miami is now 8-0 in overtime games and their season record improves to 31-13.
Here are my takeaways from Wednesday’s win over the Wizards.
Five-for-five substitution
With the Wizards trimming the Heat’s 19 point lead down to three points, Erik Spoelstra had seen enough. In a bold move, Spoelstra pulled all five starters at once, with 6:41 to play in the third period. In their place were Goran Dragic, Derrick Jones Jr, Tyler Herro, James Johnson, and Kelly Olynyk.
After making the switch, the Heat regained momentum and entered the fourth quarter with a seven-point lead.
Herro’s strong second half
After scoring just three points in the first half, Tyler Herro responded with a strong second half. He played a huge role in bringing the changing the momentum of the game in the Heat’s favor. Herro scored 22 points on 6-of-8 shooting on threes in the second half.
Herro finished the game with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 shooting on threes. His seven made three-pointers are the most ever by a Heat rookie.
10-man rotation
With Butler available, the Heat used a 10-man rotation. When Miami was using a nine-man rotation, Olynyk was the odd man out. However, Olynyk made the most of his minutes against the Wizards, scoring 14 points in 21 minutes of action.
The only active players who didn’t play were Chris Silva, Udonis Haslem, and Dion Waiters.
Next up: The Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. Game tips off at 8pm ET on ESPN
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