Miami Heat v Milwaukee Bucks 12/22

Saturday night, prime time, against an MVP candidate, the Miami Heat had a lot to live up to following their 101-99 win against the Houston Rockets a couple days before. Hosting Giannis Antetokounmpo has been a pleasure almost for the Heat as Head Coach Erik Spolestra always has a way to contain him from his normal MVP standards. This happened yet again as the Heat and Bucks in general had a tough time scoring in the first half as it ended 38-37 to the Bucks, despite the Bucks’ 8 point 1st quarter. The offense for Miami picked up after halftime and they dropped 35 in the third, which ultimately led them to victory. Whether it was missed shots or defense, the Bucks could not find the bucket until it was too late and only ended up scoring 87, while they Heat ended with 94. Josh Richardson was the Heat’s leading scorer with 16, and the Greek Freak was held to just 9 points, shooting 25% from the floor, and was outscored by 5 different Heat players. Overall a good defensive performance from the Heat, and that game made it 4 wins in a row going into Orlando the next night.

Miami Heat v Orlando Magic 12/23

No quarters under 25 points, Tyler Johnson shooting 60% and 66% from three, and missed shots my Orlando to start and end the game is all one needs to know to figure out how this ended. The Heat started hot and genuinely didn’t stop. The ball movement a style that Point Guard Justise Winslow brings to this team helps tremendously, and we get to see a lot better score sheet at the end of the game. The gas pedal was on for the Heat, wasn’t taken off, and led to a great score at the end of the game, 115-91. That ended up being 5 wins in a row and with the offense seeming to turn around and the defense holding strong, the Heat had to keep this up to beat the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.

Miami Heat v Toronto Raptors 12/26

An absolutely devastating third quarter defined this game and was really hard to watch as a fan. Going into half time the Heat were up by 14, and it looked like it had the chance to be a really bad game and Miami was gonna coast. When it came down to it, Kawhi Leonard, another MVP candidate to against, dropping 30, is always hard to overcome, as is shooting 50% from the free throw line, and only getting 12 free throw shots on general. The Raptors were 19-23 from the stripe and that seemed to really kill Miami in the end. Blowing a 14 point lead from half time sucks, and knowing that they were up 17 at some point in the third quarter, and still lost by two, sucks. It was a good game and still a great performance from the Heat as it’s hard to expect so much from a game against a team like Toronto, but with the way the game was going, one would have loved to see a victory at the end of the night.

The Heat play the Cavaliers twice in the next week, and the T-Wolves on between, so make sure to check AJ’s Sports Media’s recap on that week next Friday at 8:30.