Miami routs Washington at home
MIAMI There are many ways to quantify the success of Saturday night for the Miami Heat.
But perhaps it is best to allow this to marinate: Erik Spoelstra’s team scored 43 points in the third quarter.
With what turned into a 129-102 rout of the Washington Wizards, the Heat moved within a half game of the No. 6 Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Whether it was James Johnson scoring all 20 of his points by the midpoint of the third period, Kelly Olynyk coming off the bench to produce a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double in 22 minutes or Wayne Ellington piling it on with four 3-pointer, this was a night when you would have thought all was perfect in the Heat’s world.
Instead, shortly before the opening tip the Heat announced that center Hassan Whiteside would be sidelined by soreness in his left hip. Later, Dwyane Wade went to the locker room with a strained hamstring.
No matter, not with the Heat still stung by some questionable officiating that cost them in an overtime loss Tuesday in Washington.
So they created their own personal sendoff part, now headed out for a threegame western swing, opening Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Spoelstra again was forced to tinker with his lineup. It was Whiteside’s first absence since he missed a Feb. 3 road loss to the Detroit Pistons due to a stomach illness.
Whiteside previously had missed five games early in the season with a bruised left knee and then another 13 games with a similar ailment in December.
Rookie Bam Adebayo started in place of Whiteside, his 12th start of the season and first since that Feb. 3 game when Whiteside was ill. The opening lineup was rounded out by James Johnson, Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson and Goran Dragic.
Spoelstra had to further tinker when Dragic was forced out with his second foul with 6:42 left in the opening period, opening time for Rodney McGruder, who was out of the rotation for Thursday’s victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Eventually, everyone played, with Udonis Haslem even scoring.
The Wizards remained without sidelined guard John Wall, who traveled with the team and went through a pregame warm up.
Even with Adebayo called for his fourth foul just 41 seconds into the second half, the Heat were able to push their lead into the 20s by the midpoint of the third period, with Olynyk stepping up with a solid effort on the boards.
The Heat then went into the fourth quarter up 103-76, after their 43-point third period.
The Heat missed their first eight 3-point attempts before a Dragic conversion in the second period. But Dragic then was called for both his third foul and a technical foul with 5:03 left in the second quarter, forced to the bench. Adebayo later joined him on the bench with 2:28 to play in the second quarter.
Through it all, the Heat moved to a 14-point lead in the second quarter and went into halftime up 60-48, with Tyler Johnson and James Johnson both up to 11 points by that stage.
The Heat pushed to an early 10-point lead, hitting seven of their first eight shots, and went into the second period up 26-20, with James Johnson up to eight points at that stage on 4-of-5 shooting. The Wizards had five first-quarter turnovers.
It was the fourth and final game of the season series.
The Wizards won the first meeting 102-93 Nov. 15 at AmericanAirlines Arena, with Wall scoring 27 points and Bradley Beal 26. The Heat then won 91-88 two nights later in Washington, with Whiteside closing with 22 points and 16 rebounds, the Heat having to scramble late after pushing to a 25-point lead. Most recently, the Wizards won 117-113 in overtime Tuesday in Washington, when Beal led all scorers with 30 points.
The Heat were coming off Thursday’s 108-99 victory over the 76ers, when Whiteside scored 26 points.