MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 125-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans:
– We saw it against the Pacers a couple of weeks back.
– And again this time against the Pelicans.
– An opponent throwing the ball away with reckless abandon, this time 25 turnovers.
– Yes, some credit to the Heat for forcing the mistakes.
– But also a case of conference-worst team being, well … bad.
– As in the Pacers being the worst in the East.
– And the Pelicans worst in the West.
– The irony is both shot the ball well against the Heat when maintaining possession.
– As rare as that was.
– So perspective is needed in these.
– Because this is not even play-in level competition.
– Let alone what the Heat would have to face in the real postseason.
– What you do is take victories like this and move on.
– Perhaps with a token of gratitude for the opposition being so giving.
– Now do it Tuesday in Minnesota and it would come with meaning.
– Still, it does make it five victories in the last six.
– And nothing wrong with that.
– With Tyler Herro in uniform but not considered ready to return, the Heat again opened with a lineup of Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware and Davion Mitchell.
– Powell sizzled from the arc.
– Which basically was all that was needed in this one.
– With Jaime Jaquez Jr. out, the first two substitutes off the bench were Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jovic, who entered together.
– Dru Smith followed.
– With Kasparas Jakucionis making it nine deep.
– Then, in a twist, two-way player Myron Gardner entered off the Heat bench, ahead of Simone Fontecchio.
– With a four-game trip up next, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra went in stressing the importance of Sunday night.
– “We know how important this game is before we go on the road,” he said.
– Mission accomplished.
– He also said no need to look back to Saturday night’s home loss to the Timberwolves.
– “We want to just put that game behind us from last night and just focus on this game and have that similar type of compete level,” he said, “and then bring a more efficient game on both sides of the court, where we’re getting to our identity more consistently, not letting teams to take us out of that identity.”
– With Jaquez (ankle) out, Spoelstra said it was beneficial to have Pelle Larsson (ankle) back.
– “He can do some of it,” Spoelstra said of Larsson as Jaquez. “He does it in a different way, but pace can also take care of some of that. It’ll have to be in a lot of different other buckets.”
– Which Larsson did, in a solid two-way effort.
– Pelicans coach James Borrego became the latest to praise the Heat’s pace.
– “The way they get it out, the pace, make or miss, this is as fast as I’ve seen them,” he said. “So to their credit, they’ve done a heck of a job doing it. They do it very well, they trust it, they get the ball to the floor, they put pressure on you constantly.”
– Borrego added. “It’s kind of the philosophy I’ve shared over the years offensively – just keep as much pressure on the defense for as long as possible. And they’re doing that, they do it with the drive, the pace, the ball movement.”
The Heat then launched 57 shots in their 70-point first half.
– And kept going from there.
– It was the 100th career regular-season appearance for Ware.
– Ware extended his career-best run of games with multiple offensive rebounds to 17.
– Along the way, Jovic reached his 500th career rebound.