Miami Heat remained this Friday at the top of the Eastern Conference by beat the Clippers at home (121-114) with a display of triples by Gabe Vincent and safety from Jimmy Butler’s free throw that prevented a new great comeback for the Los Angeles team. Against a team depleted by not being able to count on Paul George again, who with Miami has already been away from the courts for 25 games, the Heat were once again led by Butler, with 26 points, 9 assists and 16 of 16 free throws. , which finally gave the victory to the locals. Butler was well accompanied by Adebayo (20 points and 12 rebounds) and Vincent (23), who made 7 three-pointers out of 12 attempts (58% effective). With that display in front of them, the visiting team should also have been fine offensively, but it was not their night and they finished with a poor three-point percentage (25%) despite Luke Kennard’s 5 of 11. The forward was the most outstanding among the Angelenos and finished with 23 points, 19 of which in the fourth quarter.
With tonight’s victory Miami made up for the loss suffered in November in Los Angeles, where they lost 112-109, when the Clippers still had Paul George and Miami did not have Butler, and cut the streak of six consecutive losses against the California team. With this victory, the Heat remain first in the East and fourth in the entire league and showing their good form, especially at home, where they have 12 wins in their last 13 games.
bad start
However, things started hesitantly, and contrary to what happened in his last two games, in which he came out powerful against the Lakers and Knicks from the beginning, against the Clippers they appeared very unwise on the court and needed almost 4 minutes to achieve their first basket in play, but a 9-2 run later put things in their place. Miami began to lose fear of the Bosnian Ivica Zubac, who imposed his size, and to show one of the keys that they have at the head of the Eastern Conference, the balance between inside play and his good outside shooting percentages (second best in triples in all the league, with 38%). And again with Jimmy Butler at the helm, with 10 points in the first few minutes, the local team closed the first quarter with a 9-point difference (28-19).
Clippers tried to mislead them by alternating defenses to the man and in the zone, taking advantage of the fact that the Heat were not having their usual success from the triple (with 28% at halftime, for 40 at the end of the match). But on the other side of the court the Angelenos were very stuck and stayed in the game thanks to free throws, with 13 shot in the second quarter. However, Butler continued to do his thing, adding in all plots, and thus led his team to achieve a 12-point lead at halftime (57-45). Upon return, the trend continued and Miami gradually increased its distance (76-56, min. 29) over the seventh in the Western Conference.
triple fest
If in the first half most of his points came from the paint, in the third quarter they came from beyond the arc, with eight triples almost in a row and without failure, six of them from Gabe Vincent, unleashed with 18 points in six minutes. But the Clippers threatened to achieve another brutal comeback like the one achieved this week against the Wizards, whom they won after going down 35 points, and in just over 3 minutes they reduced Miami’s deficit by 13 points, from 85-62 to 91- 80. From there, he began a laborious work of undermining in the last quarter that allowed him to gradually reduce the distance to enter the last three minutes with a 7-point deficit (109-102), thanks to Luke Kennard, who assumed responsibility with 16 points in the fourth quarter. But again the solution came from long range, with triples by PJ Tucker and Tyler Herro, and from the free throw line, where Butler’s hand did not shake and he closed the game with an impeccable card from the free throw.