Key Highlights
- (Jaquez was better than his numbers indicated in this one.)AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– There has to be a heck of an incoming Christmas bonus for Adam Simon.– As the draft hits keep on coming, even as the search for wins remains ongoing.– As for what the Heat were forced to roll out in this one .
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- NBA back-to-backs suck.– Especially ones that include travel.– Especially ones that make no sense, with the Heat leaving their Manhattan hotel on Thursday for their Thursday night game in Brooklyn against the Nets, then flying to Boston for Friday night’s against the Celtics, only to return Saturday to New York for Sunday night’s game against the Knicks.– Does that mean with more commonsense scheduling that Andew Wiggins (back) and Davion Mitchell (ankle) otherwise might have been available in Boston, without the back-to-back, without the travel?AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– We’ll get a better read when the Heat turn in their lineup card Sunday in New York.– But treatment and travel aren’t necessarily an optimal combination.
- – And neither is a lack of recovery time, as the NBA packs its schedule to allow for its event scheduling, such as the NBA Cup and the All-Star break.– And so, a Heat roster that on Friday lacked Wiggins, Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jovic, among others.– Desperation to the degree that a night after getting his first rotation minutes,Jakucionis was in the starting lineup.– Desperation to a degree that coach Erik Spoelstra, who prefers to protect his rotations, had no choice but to give Jaquez his first start of the season. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement– Beyond those two, rounding out the starting lineup were Bam Adebayo, Norman Powell and Kel’el Ware.– This time it wasn’t Spoelstra making a value judgement of whether Ware should start.– This time, there was no other choice.– It was Ware’s second consecutive start.– And now likely to start going forward, regardless of who else is available.– He has been that good lately.– Powell was called for his second foul with 7:56 left in the opening period.