The Heat continue to remain tight-lipped about Gerald Green’s status, but the show must go on for the rest of the team as they square off against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday at the American Airlines arena. There seems to be an interesting phenomenon happening when teams come to Miami on the weekend. Though there has only been two Sunday games thus far, both times the away team looked sluggish and sloppy. Maybe the allure of South Beach serves as an assist to the Miami Heat. Either way, the Heat always look good.
The most notable stat of the night is the no Heat player went over 30 mins of PT minus Justise Winslow. Can Spoelstra keep this up? On top of that, everyone contributed to the score except for Udonis Haslem and James Ennis, who played less than 4 minutes each, and only toward the very end of the game when everything was already out of reach for the Raptors.
Hassan Whiteside proved to be the shining star yet again, with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Whiteside stayed under the net for most of the night and kept overpowering the Raptors for the boards. Chris Bosh found his 3-point stroke, and the Heat saw success from downtown. Tyler Johnson coming off the bench remains a reliable source of offense and efficiency.
More importantly, Spoelstra seems to have found some chemistry between Bosh and McRoberts being simultaneously on the court. We first saw the connection against the Pacers, and it continued to into the Raptors matchup. In fact, when the Heat went on a run against the Raptors, Bosh was the only starter on the court, while McRoberts assisted. Spoelstra is finding depth again in his bench. Wade played less than 25 minute, as well. The impact of such low playing minutes as the season continues on is disproportionately in favor of the Heat, of course. While other teams see their starters playing 35 minutes and up, the Heat is finding in-game rest of epic proportions for their entire team. Older players like Wade, who have had injury problems in the past probably stemming from too much play, can definitely appreciate the new Miami Heat.
The win puts the Heat back above .500, and though the season is only 7 games in, it remains very promising that the Heat have so much depth on their bench, even with an absent Gerald Green. As long as the team remains healthy, which low playing time will usually help, the Heat season has promise of success for fans who saw a very disappointing season after LeBron James left. Pat Riley seems to have replenished the team in the best way, by adding depth and young talent.
