Dragic, offense click in victory
Heat guard finishes with 29 points against his former team.
PHOENIX — Before Wednesday’s game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said his team would use a “simplified” offense to help reduce turnovers.
But the offense wasn’t just simplified, it was better and more efficient in a 126-115 victory over the Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Heat are 2-2 on their season-long six-game trip.
The Heat scored a season-high 126 points on a season-best 53.1 percent shooting (43 for 81), as seven players finished in double figures — one game after Miami finished with a season-low 80 points on a season-worst 36.1 percent shooting in Monday’s loss to the Warriors.
The Heat never trailed. Goran Dragic led the way against his former team with 29 points.
Devin Booker scored a gamehigh 30 points for the Suns.
Miami played without Tyler Johnson, who missed the game because of an illness. But Dion
Waiters returned after missing two games for the birth of his daughter.
Here are our five takeaways:
Justise Winslow, starting power forward: Winslow got the start at power forward for the first time this season. Miami started Dragic, Waiters, Josh Richardson, Winslow and Hassan Whiteside against the Suns. At 6-foot-7, 225 pounds, Winslow isn’t the biggest power forward in the NBA. But he held his own against 6-foot-10 Suns starting power forward Marquese Chriss. The new starting lineup put the Heat on top right away with a 17-7 run. Winslow finished with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Spoelstra has already used six starting lineups in the first 11 games, but the sixth one looked really good in Phoenix. And so did Winslow.
The bounce-back game: After a poor performance in Monday’s loss to the Warriors that led to a benching, Whiteside was solid with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. This is a good sign after Whiteside scored just three points in 16 minutes against Golden State. The Heat’s $98 million center was pulled from that game with 10:47 to go in the third quarter and never returned. But Wednesday’s Whiteside performance was much better, and that’s encouraging.
“Simplified” offense looked good: With the Heat entering Wednesday ranked 28th in turnovers (17.1 per game), Spoelstra said the team would use a “simplified attack” against the Suns in an effort to erase some of the sloppiness. Miami still committed 14 turnovers. But the Heat’s offense looked sharp, with 21 assists on 43 baskets.
Dragic loves playing against the Suns: Since the Suns traded Dragic to the Heat in the middle of the 2014-15 season, he’s torched them. Dragic is 5-1 against the Suns since arriving in Miami. He’s averaging 27.4 in six games against Phoenix.
A successful road trip is within reach: The Heat are 2-2 on their six-game trip. Miami faces the Jazz (5-6) on Friday before closing the trip against the surprising Pistons (8-3). If the Heat can win one of their next two games to finish 3-3 on the trip, they can consider this season-long sixgame road stretch a success.