Exactly two weeks before the Miami Heat hosted the Indiana Pacers Sunday night, the Memphis Grizzlies humiliated the Heat in Miami in a 28-point demolishing. That loss, the team’s worst in two years, sparked a series of team meetings. It looks like the Heat has found a groove since those meetings, and its 114-80 win over the Pacers epitomizes that newfound consistency.
Winners of five of its past six games, Miami is now 16-12, returning to four games above the .500 mark for the first time since the team was 9-5. The Heat played its best game of the season, playing with a remarkable amount of efficiency. It made its first eight shot attempts, jumping out to a 17-3 lead in the early stages of the game. Miami’s lead even reached 40 at one point.
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With eight minutes and 12 seconds left to go in the first, Dwyane Wade found Jermaine O’Neal for a vicious dunk. On the Pacers’ ensuing possession, Quentin Richardson stole a pass from Earl Watson and dealt an outlet pass to Wade, who proceeded to the basket unimpeded for a one-handed dunk. With two minutes and 38 seconds left in the quarter, Carlos Arroyo found Joel Anthony for an alley-oop. At that point, Miami led 34-12. And it was great that the Heat never took its foot off the gas pedal.
Wade had 25 points in just 28 minutes of playing time, shooting 10-of-17 from the field. His highlight moment came at the midway point of the third quarter, when Wade received an alley-oop pass from Arroyo and slammed it home with authority. The 6-foot-4 guard out of Marquette also dished out six assists, collected three steals and only had one turnover. Miami as a team committed only seven turnovers.
Jermaine O’Neal was equally efficient, scoring 19 points in just 19 minutes of action. O’Neal scored 12 of his points in the first quarter against his former team, even showcasing some post moves from his heyday in Indiana. He shot six-of-seven from the field and made all seven of his attempts from the foul line.
Complementing Wade and O’Neal was Michael Beasley, the sophomore forward out of Kansas State. Beasley had 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. During one sequence in the second quarter, Beasley grabbed a rebound from an Arroyo missed layup and stayed with the play to dunk the ball. He also took a charge against Roy Hibbert in the third period, his first of the season and only the second of his career.
Udonis Haslem added 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and seven rebounds. Quentin Richardson added eight points and a team-leading nine rebounds. Miami grabbed 55 rebounds Sunday night, but the Heat’s defense held the Pacers to 31 percent shooting from the field. Arroyo provided his consistent superb ball-handling ability.
Anthony had six points, and seems to be much better at catching the ball than he used to last season. He is by no means a polished offensive scorer and probably never will be, but he is becoming more efficient when he is involved in pick-and-roll situations. Dorell Wright added six points and eight rebounds, hooking up with Arroyo for an alley-oop in the second quarter. Mario Chalmers added nine points, making the Heat’s first three-pointer of the night (it came in the third quarter, which makes Miami’s early lead all the more impressive).
Daequan Cook played 17 minutes and was zero-for-three from the field. He did grab three rebounds in nine minutes of play, though. To get back his shooting stroke, perhaps Heat coach Erik Spoelstra should use a back-court of Wade and Cook so that Cook could get open shots.
Despite the Heat’s solid play recently, I don’t see Miami catching the 21-8 Atlanta Hawks. But it can continue to play well so that it can be a good enough team to beat the Hawks in a seven-game series come April and have an extended stay in the playoffs.
