In the space of 24 hours, the Miami Heat have rediscovered their old mojo.
After losing eight of nine and sliding from 14-7 to .500 at 15-15, Miami bounced back to its high-octane best with a resounding pair of back-to-back wins ahead of Monday’s clash with the visiting Denver Nuggets.
The Heat’s scoring average of 125.2 points across the first 21 games had slumped to 107.3 during the recent nine-game wobble.
They appear to have snapped out of that malaise, following a 126-111 road win against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday with an even more impressive 142-116 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Miami on Saturday.
Even without Tyler Herro (right big toe contusion) and Bam Adebayo (lower back soreness), the Heat found other ways to dice up Indiana.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 28 points on 73% shooting off the bench, Andrew Wiggins had 28 at 75%, and Norman Powell added 23.
“When we go out there, we just try to do it collectively,” Wiggins said after his short-handed team’s second straight success. Everyone’s looking out for each other, trying to play at pace, get stops. When we do that, everyone eats and everyone feels good.”
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra praised Wiggins, who hit 4 of 4 from deep and chalked up three steals against the Pacers.
“Both nights he was really good,” Spoelstra said after the Heat dominated the fourth quarter 42-22 to notch their sixth game of at least 140 points on the season.
“(Wiggins was) really assertive on both ends of the court. It’s fun to see when he’s competing at that level. He has those kind of gifts to be able to make the difficult look easy … he was very assertive, and we’re a better basketball team when he has that mindset.”
Notably, Miami’s defense forced 26 Indiana turnovers, which resulted in 38 Heat points.
Adebayo has been upgraded to probable for Monday’s game, while Herro has been ruled out.
Denver, in contrast, coughed up 16 turnovers for 27 points conceded a heart-wrenching 127-126 loss to the host Orlando Magic on Saturday, the first outing in a seven-game Eastern Conference swing for coach David Adelman’s side.
The Nuggets had led 70-53 early in the third quarter before Orlando reeled them in and conjured a slender escape on a pair of Desmond Bane free throws in the dying seconds.
Nikola Jokic finished with 34 points, a season-high 21 rebounds and 12 assists for his 16th triple-double of the season and 180th of his career — one behind Oscar Robertson for second all-time.
It was also the three-time MVP’s eighth career 30-20-10 triple-double, and his first of the season, coming straight after his titanic 56-point triple-double against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Christmas
Despite his individual brilliance, Jokic — who is averaging a triple-double with 29.9 points and league-bests of 12.4 rebounds and 11.1 assists — cut a frustrated figure after Denver’s defeat.
“Two completely different halves,” he said after the Nuggets were outscored 36-31 and 43-33 across the final two periods. “We didn’t play any defense in the second half. They were just laying the ball up. At the end we had looks, we had shots, but we just couldn’t make it.
“They were just attacking, they were going by us or even overpowering us. It was not our best third and fourth quarter(s).”
Denver has overwhelmingly gotten the best of Miami in recent seasons, winning the past 11 straight and 14 of the past 15.
The Heat’s last victory over the Nuggets came on Aug. 1, 2020, inside the COVID-19 bubble in Orlando.
–Field Level Media
