A last-second winner
Olynyk’s putback basket lifts Heat over Wizards
WASHINGTON – It was down to the wire again for the Miami Heat for the second time in as many nights.
This time, Kelly Olynyk came up big when needed, scoring a putback basket with two-tenths of a second to play to lift the Heat to a 113-112 victory over the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
The only NBA team to open the season with backto-back games, the Heat needed every second to make it a 1-1 start, after falling in the closing seconds a night earlier against the Orlando Magic.
And now it gets better, with eight of the next 11 at home.
Before Olynyk’s moment, the Heat’s Derrick Jones Jr. and Rodney McGruder both stepped up to a level heretofore unseen, with both forwards establishing career scoring highs Thursday night, McGruder with 20 points, Jones with 17.
The ultimate takeway? Until the Heat become whole, there will be no easy button, even with Josh Richardson leading the way Thursday with 28 points, countered by 26 and 20 respectively from Wizards guards John Wall and Bradley Beal.
A Jones transition dunk tied it 100-100 midway through the fourth quarter, with a Richardson 3-pointer with 3:34 to play then putting the Heat ahead 106-104.
Later, a driving layup by Dwyane Wade put the Heat up 111-110, but Wall then drew a foul on Hassan Whiteside with 56.6 seconds to play. Those free throws put Washington up 112-111.
Off a jump ball scramble, still down one, the Heat called time with 33.4 seconds to play, a possession that resulted in a 24-seconod violation with 30.5 seconds to play.
Wall then was off with a jumper, with Wade securing the rebound and the Heat calling their final timeout with 6.6 seconds left.
A night after the Heat wound up with a Richardson turnover in a similar situation, Wade this time was off with as jumper . . . only to see Olynyk follow with a putback for a 113-112 lead with two-tenth of a second to play, closing out the scoring.
Three degrees of Heat from Thursday’s game:
1. Attack mode: A night after struggling with foul trouble, Jones Jr. was back in the Heat starting lineup, this time offering early impact. To Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, it all is part of the growth curve with last season’s two-way prospect.
“With any young player that’s in our program, we tell them this all the time, ‘You have to become absolute masters of technique,’ “Spoelstra said of Jones’ foul trouble in Wednesday’s season-opening loss. “And that takes time. It takes a lot of film work. It takes a lot of drilling. It takes a lot of player development with that.”
The player known as “Airplane Mode” for his high-wire dunks this time was in attack mode early, with nine free throws by halftime. As if there was any doubt about Jones being fully ingrained into Heat Culture, there also was a chest-to-chest moment with Wall in the third quarter that resulted in a Wall technical foul.
2. McGruder, too: Another starter by attrition, McGruder kept the Heat afloat with 11 second-quarter points, when it otherwise was going sideways for Spoelstra’s team.
Given the opportunity to play alongside Hassan Whiteside, McGruder has developed an alley-oop chemistry with the Heat big man at a time when teammates have struggled with that chemistry.
The preseason wasn’t a fluke, and it might just be that opening night ultimately will prove to be the exception with McGruder, who shot 2 of 9 in Orlando.
Now the question with both Jones and McGruder becomes what happens when the ailing again are ambulatory?
3. Too Rich? Wednesday in Orlando there were 21 points on 21 shots. This time, Richardson again got his shot total up.
So the question becomes whether the Heat are attempting to cast him in a leading role . . . or whether he is pressing too much to become a leading man?
With Dion Waiters, James Johnson, Justise Winslow and Wayne Ellington out, it’s not as if the Heat have many options. But an overnight transition from complementary player to go-to guy rarely is accomplished in 48 hours.