South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Nunn shows off a shooter’s touch
Aggressive rookie guard scores 40, including 17 in 4th
MIAMI — You know it’s preseason when undrafted rookie Kendrick Nunn is attempting to match James Harden point for point.
Harden, who you might have heard of, ultimately won the night, with his 44 points leading the Houston Rockets to a 144-133 preseason victory Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena.
But it was Nunn who won the appreciation of a Miami Heat crowd denied the opportunity to see Jimmy Butler in action, the emerging guard closing with 40 points, including a 17-point fourth quarter, and showing there could yet be a viable rotation alternative for Dion Waiters.
“You’re really happy for a guy like Kendrick,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Nunn, added by the Heat on the final day of last season, closed 15 of 27 from the field and 6 of 10 on 3-pointers.
“It just felt normal, honestly,” the 24-year- old rookie said. “I’m aggressive every time I step on the floor.”
It was the highest-scoring preseason game by a Heat player over the past 20 years, eclipsing a 38-point game by LeBron James. Heat all-time exhibition stats have not been archived.
With Butler given the Heat’s final exhibition of a 4-1 preseason off, Friday was more about the Heat’s depth.
In that respect, it was an encouraging display on the offensive end — but also a sign that work remains against elite offense and elite scorers, Houston with 111 points by the end of the third period.
Beyond Nunn’s scoring, the most well-rounded Heat effort came from center Bam Adebayo, who finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes.
Next up for the Heat is Wednesday ’s season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Five degrees of Heat from Friday’s exhibition:
1. Nunn sense: Due to their position against the hard cap, the only roster flexibility the Heat held going into the preseason was potentially going with another player over Nunn (each of the 13 other primary roster players had too large of a guarantee to waive).
Given the opportunity to start Friday, Nunn, who last season played for the Warriors’ G League team as an undrafted rookie, showed that his summerleague performance may well be the start of something bigger.
“I means a lot,” Nunn said of making the roster.
Nunn was aggressive in his 40 minutes, including an early five-point possession, when he scored on a driving layup, absorbed a hard foul, missed the ensuing and-one free throw, but then converted a 3-pointer after a Heat offensive rebound.
2. Still has it: While a reserve role appears to be Goran Dragic’s fate going into the season, he offered a strong statement upon entering, going 16 minutes in the first half, with 12 points and seven assists, before sitting out the final two periods.
Thriving against opposing reserves could ultimately define this next act of Dragic’s career, as the 33-year-old enters the final season on his contract.
Waiters, by contrast, did not enter until midway through the second period, as 10th man, after the Heat had already scored 51 points.
3. Mix and match: Meyers Leonard again opened at power forward, with Kelly Olynyk later entering in the first quarter off the bench.
Spoelstra said the 3-point-shooting big men are not necessarily interchangeable, but can be part of a mix-and-match rotation.
“They ’re different, much different,” he said. “But I love the difference between the two. Meyers gives you a size and a physicality. He can stretch the floor. He does it in a totally different way than K.O. K.O., you see his skill level, can do a little bit more off the dribble, a little bit more that he keeps-and-fakes, things that generate some looks for us in our handoff game.
“But we need both. But I like the blend of both.”
Olynyk was efficient in his nine first-half minutes, his only action of the night, with 11 points and three rebounds.
4. Big Two: It’s an adjustment seeing Harden and Russell West brook as Rockets’ running partners, but there the two were side-by-side Friday.
“It’s a good thing,” said Spoelstra, who found a way to blend the perimeter talents of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James for a pair of NBA titles. “You want to win that last game of the year? You better have some talent. You better have some guys that can do something with the ball. And those two guys can. I think it’s incredibly interesting. You have two MVPs in their prime.”
Westbrook closed with 16 points in 26 minutes.
5. Flip side: A night after closing with 12 assists and three turnovers in a victory in Orlando, Justise Winslow, again starting as the primary ballhandler, this time struggled to two assists and five turnovers in his 21 minutes.