Heat beat Wizards 113-112 off Kelly Olynyk’s last second heroics

Oh Canada. In a match that went back and forth the entire night, it was Kelly Olynyk who would secure the 113-112 win for the Miami Heat over the Washington Wizards on a last second, second chance effort. Here’s how the whole thing went down:

1st Quarter:

It was the Wizards who would strike first against Miami, with John Wall blowing by Goran Dragic and following it up with a three pointer 30 seconds later. The Heat would miss on their first few attempts, but a Richardson three got them out of their drought. Richardson really looked strong trying to set Miami’s pace with a huge slam. He once again was the one taking the majority of the shots.

Still, turnovers were a problem for the Heat (again!) and allowed the Wiz to take an early lead. The Heat really can’t afford to be this carless with the basketball and expect to win games.

Despite some success (i.e Derrick Jones Jr slam) the Heat looked lethargic and sloppy. Besides the turnovers, they made stupid mistakes, missed rebounds and were just all around lazy. It was not a good start.

2nd Quarter:

Miami was better to start the second, pushing the pace and making better decisions. Wade would tie the game up with a great move and the Heat would take the lead off a Kelly triple. The Heat also looked better defensively, not allowing anything easy in the key.

The lead would fluctuate often keeping things very close with Miami looking for an opportunity to take advantage of the Wizards’ slowing offense.

The back and forth battle would last for much of the quarter, with many highlight plays (John Wall slam, Derrick Jones Jr putback dunk). Miami really came alive in this quarter with McGruder and Derrick Jones Jr doing a lot on offense (at the half they had combined for 27 points).

The Wizards would go on an 8-0 run in the final minute of the half and the Heat would go into the third down one.

3rd Quarter:

Rodney kept it going with a great layup to start the second half giving the Heat the lead momentarily. On a night with Dragic struggling to score, having Rodney and Derrick Jones Jr step up was great.

Around the 10:00 minute mark, Hassan was pushed by Jason Smith and hurt his head. On the next play both men would dive for a loose ball triggering a scuffle between the Heat and Wizards. These teams were chippy, and it made the game a little bit more entertaining. A technical foul would allow the Heat to take a 5 point lead off a 9-0 scoring run.

From there it was Dragic unleashing a small offensive explosion to pad the Heat’s lead. Unfortunately, the Wizards would go on a run of their own reducing the Heat lead to just three. The Wizards 10-0 run unraveled things for Miami as the Wizards once again stole the lead.

The Wizards’ fouls would give the Heat an opportunity to sneak back into the game and they would, evening things out in the final minutes of the quarter. The lead would flip flop again with the Heat headed into the final quarter down four points.

4th Quarter:

This Heat and Wiz went back and forth to start this one, with Wade and Richardson delivering on some great plays. The Wizards and Heat would go back and forth with Tyler Johnson hitting some key shots. One positive out of this lengthy game, Miami’s offensive rebounding looks great, everybody’s hustling it really is great to see.

The Heat would tie things up at the 6 minute mark with an amazing Hassan rejection that led to a Josh Richardson slam. Sloppy decision making and defense would unfortunately let the Wizards steal the league again.

Rodney McGruder hit a huge three off a Tyler steal to put the Heat within one, and Josh Richardson would hit another three to put the Heat ahead two with just over three minutes remaining. As the game entered its final two minutes the lead would fluctuate multiple times. Dwyane Wade would give the Heat the lead with a great drive with just over a minute to go, but a 24 second violation would cost the Heat seconds later.

A Whiteside foul let John Wall help the Wizards to a one point lead, with 56 seconds to go. Richardson would drive the lane, and deliver a wonky pass that Whiteside saved with a great hustle leading to a jump ball. Miami won the jump and quickly took a timeout. With 3 seconds on the shot clock, Richardson would drive again, but was too slow leading to another violation.

With Wizards’ fans on their feet a missed John Wall three would give the Heat one last chance to win the game. Spo would go to Wade for the final shot and he would miss on a fadeway, but a hustling Kelly Olynyk would pick up the rebound and put it in giving Miami the lead with 2 tenths of a second left.

John Wall would inbound looking to catch a Wizards’ player in the air for a quick bucket, but DJJ would block his inbound pass securing the Heat a well deserved win.