Miami Heat Summer League: Takeaways from 95-88 loss against Hawks
The Miami Heat continued their 2022 Las Vegas Summer League journey against the Atlanta Hawks in the first day of a Summer League back-to-back on Tuesday. Miami lost 95-88 — here are a few immediate takeaways from their performance.
1. New Summer League starting five
Omer Yurtseven and Nikola Jovic did not suit up today because of quad contusions, as well as Haywood Highsmith (undisclosed). But the Heat decided to shake up the starting five in its entirety. Miami started four new players — with Jalen Adaway, Bryce Hamilton, Marcus Garrett and Bryson Williams all starting Tuesday night.
2. Clunky start for Heat offense
With an entirely new starting five — the Heat offense was clunky and pretty disjointed. In the first quarter alone, Miami went 6-for-15 — a 40.0 percent clip, which isn’t bad — but the Heat nearly had as many turnovers (5) as made field goals in the quarter. Over that stretch, Atlanta shot 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) with six turnovers of their own with two missed layups.
The bench unit of Jamaree Bouyea, Mychal Mulder and Kyle Allman Jr. sparked it in the second quarter; they fashioned easier offense by getting in transition, generate paint touches plus netting more of their spot-up attempts (as a team) in the second quarter — registering 27 points. It was Miami’s second-highest point total through two Vegas games, though it didn’t make much of impact in the score, as Atlanta scored 26.
3. Bouyea continues to show flashes
I’ve belabored this before this Summer League — plus on the Twittersphere during the game — but Bouyea continues to be Miami’s top initiator.
Tonight, he was still able to get to his spots and weave through the lane, but flashed more spot-up shooting — even though he missed a couple pivotal shots late. He still calmed Miami’s offense in the first half — helping them close the final 6:34 on a 24-10 run. He only had six points with a rebound in the opening half, and eight points, three rebounds and one assist overall. For the most part, he was better than his stat line indicated.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he earns an Exhibit 10 with Miami; he could be a two-way player both literally and contractually!
4. Overwhelming second-half run fuels Hawks victory
After Miami cut it to five entering halftime — 49-44 — and led by one 3:19 into the third quarter, Atlanta countered with a 17-3 run to take a 13-point lead, 69-56. They did not look back. Miami entered the final quarter down 10 and couldn’t trim it below five for the remainder of the game. In the second half, the Hawks shot 51.5 percent compared to the Heat’s 32.4 percent.
5. Tonight’s Heat Summer League standout: Javonte Smart
If this were included both teams, I would’ve said Chaundee Brown or Tyrese Martin, who scored 15 of his 21 points in the second-half alone. But since this is just Heat players, I’ll say Smart.
It’s been a rough Summer League thus far for Smart. Even after tallying just eight points on 4-of-12 shooting in their NBA 2K23 Las Vegas Summer League opener, he totaled a team-high 19 points on 5-of-13 shooting, including 2-of-5 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. He also had a pair of rebounds with three assists.
Other standouts include Allman Jr. (14 PTS), Adaway (9 PTS, 4 REB), Williams (11 PTS, 4 REB, Mychal Mulder (8 PTS, 2 STL) and Garrett (7 PTS, 4 REB), among others.
Okay, you can go back to daydreaming about Kevin Durant and/or Donovan Mitchell in Heat uniforms.
