Watching the Q1 now ...
Alex Sarr is giving as good as he is getting early on. Good battle between him and Bam. A Sarr 13pts vs Bam 16pts in first 7min. Then Bam hits a 3 to force a timeout. Sarr comes. A 19-13 pts edge then. Some post ups, some drives, some 3s, dunks. Variety.
Alex Sarr is dribbling the ball up court quite a bit. Strange sight. His defense on Bam is terrible. He can't cover Bam one-on-one. Bam is driving around him too easily. Bam is out-muscling him in the post. A Sarr picks up his 2nd biting on a pump fake. A Sarr's team defense is dreadful too. He is never in position. He wants to help protect the paint which gifts Bam his last 2 threes. I don't mind that so much. I care more that he is in terrible position whenever he is near the paint. Not in good position to provide help or to recover back to his man. Gives up so many easy opportunities to the opposition. His defense is dreadful despite his shot-blocking numbers.
Vukcevic is in now to defend Bam. Bam hits a 3. Looks like Vuke will be too slow to defend Bam on the perimeter - for outside shots or for drives. 22pts in 8 min for Bam now. Yep, drives right around Vuke on next possession for a layup and one. Vuke with a lazy reach in from behind foul. Vuke can't cover Bam. Bam now tied with LeBron with most Q1 pts in a quarter with 25pts. Bam airballs a step back 3. Then drives right by Vuke on next possession again. Misses in the lane. WAS lose the ball. Bam misses 8 foot jumper.
Steal by Bam, coast to coast, fouled. 2 more FTs. Bam breaks LeBron's Q1 pts record. LeBron also had a 25pt Q3. Both are highs for any quarter. So now Bam has the Heat all time record for pts in a quarter. 27pts Bam. Bam hits a pull up 3 in transition. About 3 feet behind the line on the right wing. Vuke giving him space to shoot. 30pts. Misses a catch and shoot 3 top of the key. Bam turns it over next poss but WAS can't run a fastbreak - turnover. Vukcevic hits a 3 on next WAS poss. That might be the 1st good thing he has done in his 5min on the floor. He has been terrible. Bam offensive foul hitting Vuke to the ground. Another turnover for Bam. Bam makes up for it on the other end with a block to deny a layup triggering a fastbreak layup for MIA on the other end. Vuke and Bam fighting for position. Both guys banging each other. Foul Vuke. Bam 1 of 2. Bam 31pts.
WAS 2nd unit was terrible = a small guard named Sharife Cooper. Then Jalen Hardy, Justin Champagnie, Anthony Gill, Vukcevic. Champagnie and Hardy are below average bench players. The other 3 guys are all 3rd stringers to non-NBA talent.
Q2 ....
Bam rests to start Q2. MIA no backup center with K Ware out. Tallest MIA player is 6 foot 6 = Jaquez + Keshad Johnson. Larsson 6-5. Sorry, Fontecchio at 6-7. He is the tallest. Then Dru Smith as a 6-2 combo guard. So a tiny MIA 2nd unit. At least they have some legit NBA talent with Jaquez, Fontecchio, Dru Smith and Larsson. So their 2nd unit is clearly stronger than WAS 2nd unit despite having no size or interior presence themselves.
WAS now playing Anthony Gill as their center with Vukcevic back on the bench. Will Riley and Justin Champagnie at forward. Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington at guard.
Will Riley is like Jordan Walsh in his rookie season. You can see the talent as a defensive playmaker / stopper but right now he is a deer in the headlights.
Bam back in. Thank god. WAS bring A Sarr back as well. Bam immediately draws the 3rd foul on Sarr. Offensive rebound, pump fake, Sarr whacks him. WAS have looked devoid of talent without Sarr. They need to keep him out there. They should have Sarr defend someone other than Bam. Protect him from more fouls. Next poss, Bam beats Sarr easily on the drive for a layup. 34pts for Bam.
Bam has a quick trigger on a bunch of these 3s. Fires up another from the corner after 1st pass on offensive set. Clank. Sarr gets a putback. 17pts for Sarr. Bam had switched off of him. Bam posts Sarr, all the time in the world, no double, jump hook, misses. Sarr misses a PnP 3. Sarr mises pull up 3 = lazy shot. Bam with what looks to be a clear dunk in transition but Sarr denies him at the rim. I think that is the 2nd time Sarr has rejected Bam at the basket. Pelle Larsson boxing out Sarr on the backboards, no trouble moving the skinny Sarr out of position.
Bam misses open 3. Sarr misses a runner in the lane in transition, fastbreak the other way, Sarr out of position, Bam sets up inside the paint, gets the ball, whacked. 2 more FTs. 36pts. That breaks the Miami Heat record for most pts in a half. Sarr hits a step back 3 over Bam. 20pts for Sarr. Bam with a beautiful spin move and finish over a good contest from Sarr. 38pts. 12-22 FGA for Bam. Coulibaly scores. I haven't noticed him all half. Sarr out. A Gill in to defend Bam. Bam blows by Gill on the baseline, fouled and pushed out of bounds. Gill can't be getting beaten so easily on face up. He is a smaller big / muscular big forward. 40pts Bam. 11-13 FTA. Dang, that means he got 30 FTAs in the 2nd half. Sarr back in. Not on Bam. Bam drives, reach in foul by W Riley across the arm, and one, 3pt play. 43pts. Bam misses a 3. Sarr pull up 3 to end the half. 23pts for Sarr. Bam misses halfcourt heave.
Heat up by 14pts at halftime. 43pts for Bam. 23pts for Sarr.
All the fouls look fair so far but Bam has only 14 FTAs over his 43 FTAs so most of the fouls will be in the 2nd half.
