Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kings race past Heat, 123-113
Miami falls to .500 despite careerhigh 31 points from Richardson.
MIAMI — The pace was fast and furious, with the Miami Heat more than complicit, part of Erik Spoelstra’s goal to catch up with the rest of the league.
But when the shots aren’t falling, it also can be fast and fatal.
It was in Monday night’s third quarter, when the Heat yielded 43 points and what had previously been a 12-point lead turned into a 17-point deficit.
Ultimately, playing catch up proved too much, with the Heat falling 123-113 to the Sacramento Kings on a night guard Josh Richardson scored a career-high 31 points and center Hassan Whiteside grabbed 24 rebounds, one off his career high.
Until last year, the Kings had won three times in 29 years in Miami. They now have won twice in the last two years, this latest victory dropping the Heat to 3-3.
With Sacramento whipping the ball either for open 3-pointers or point-blank attempts, the Heat wound up running on fumes, perhaps raising question about the intent and ability to play at pace.
Center Willie Cauley Stein scored 26 points for the Kings, with Sacramento guard
Buddy Hield adding 23. Five degrees of Heat
from Monday’s game:
As if to bring home Spoelstra’s point, the Heat scored 32 points in Monday’s third period . . . and lost the quarter by 11 points.
It is the deal with the NBA devil Spoelstra is not willing to play on defense.
“Even though we’ve been able to score some more points, we still have to lean on the foundation of this franchise being a defensive-oriented team, to commit to that, regardless of the game is played,” he said going in.
For the first two periods, there Heat were both fast and fierce . . . and then the defensive ferocity waned.
“It would serve us well to try to maximize that and take advantage of that,” Spoelstra said of defense as priority.
Instead, rim runs by the Kings’ big men often left the Heat in their wake, particularly Cauley-Stein.
2. Richardson attacks:
The Heat’s push for Richardson to assert himself on offense continued with an 18-point first half that included 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting on 3-pointers.
But just as he has had issues with boundary lines of the court, he also again wound up with another longest-possible 3-pointer in the first half because of a foot on the line.
If there were any doubt that Richardson could play as a featured scorer, these first six games seemingly have answered them. Richardson’s previous scoring high was 30.
3. Whiteside (early)
board beast: Whiteside came out in attack mode, with 13 rebounds and four blocked shots in the first quarter.
Whiteside was in double digits in rebounds with 2:24 still to play in the first quarter. His 13 rebounds in the period were one off his franchise record for any quarter, a mark he set in the opening period of a Jan. 20, 2015 game against the Dallas Mavericks. He closed that period with four more rebounds than the entire Sacramento roster.
With Kelly Olynyk and Bam Adebayo then stepping in for their minutes, Whiteside closed the first half with 15, one off the franchise first-half record he shares with Kevin Willis.
On the flip side, Whiteside struggled with his outlet passes, with each an adventure, contributing to the Heat’s turnover total that reached 17 by the end of the third period. 4. Wade still launching: Already with more conversions than he had two seasons ago, Heat guard Dwyane Wade shot 2 of 5 on 3-pointers.
It is a shot that Spoelstra is encouraging Wade to develop.
“We want to him to develop and continue to evolve his game,” Spoelstra said.
“He still is going to play in his strength zones, but in our system, the way we want to play, those are open, in-rhythm shots. And you’re talking about a Hall of Fame offensive talent that has continued to develop his game year after year.”
5. Kelly no: Spoelstra went into the night confident in the possibilities of Olynyk starting for the third consecutive game alongside Whiteside.
Olynyk’s confidence, however, was not there, shooting 1 of 5 on 3-pointers and 1 of 7 overall, with just two rebounds in 16 nominal minutes.
Spoelstra instead went longer in the second half with Bam Adebayo, who provided rebounding energy but had issues with his defensive positioning.