Continuing their six-game road trip, the Miami Heat strolled into Charlotte on Saturday, February 5. After defeating the Spurs on Thursday, the Heat were eager to take on their rival from North Carolina. With a fully healthy rotation for the first time in several weeks, the Heat looked to start another decent winning streak heading into the All-Star break in mid-February.
Recap
Miami got off to a hot start in the first quarter but fell completely flat in the second. Trailing at halftime 51-46, the Heat only scored 15 points in the second quarter. Flipping the script in the third quarter, Miami outscored Charlotte 35-8 in the period. A fairly even fourth quarter led to a huge Heat win, 104-86.
Despite poor shooting from the field (41.8%), the Heat made the most of their trips to the free throw line; Miami connected on 17-18 of their free throws. Strangely, the triples were not falling in the win. Tyler Herro sank five of his eight attempts, and Kyle Lowry splashed three of his five attempts. The rest of the team shot 3-19 from deep, but it was enough to secure the big win.
Jimmy Butler did All-Star Jimmy Butler things in this one. Scoring 27 points, grabbing six rebounds, and dishing four assists, Butler shot hyper-efficiently and led the team in scoring. While Bam Adebayo scored 20 points and collected 12 rebounds, his 7-21 shooting was not particularly effective for the Heat offense. Thankfully, he continued to bring the defense; he ended with three steals and two blocks.
Up Next
Riding a two-game winning streak, the Heat will now travel to Washington to take on the Wizards. The Wizards are 2-8 in their last ten games, so Miami will look to continue their winning ways and retake the one seed in the Eastern Conference.