LeBron James, Chris Bosh fire as Miami Heat stroll past Charlotte Bobcats 105 - 82 – NBA Recap
The American Airlines Arena crowd witnessed an easy win for the Miami Heat on Friday as they took care of business against the Charlotte Bobcats. The Heat got into a strong position early in the game and did not look threatened by the Bobcats afterwards,
recording the 105 – 82 win.
The Heat were always favourites to win this one but the game had some significance after their overtime loss against the Chicago Bulls. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra was looking for a reaction from his players and after the game he said he got it.
"We have a resilient group and we were all very angry about [Thursday] night, in the moment, and that's the way it should be. If you don't feel the pain of a game like [Thursday] night, which we had a locker room full of a lot of pain, if you don't have
that, you're not going to be able to go where you want to go. So, everybody felt it and today all it's about is getting up. We have to get up, collectively, bounce back. And that's what this league is all about."
Super star guard Dwyane Wade sat out the game but that didn’t seem to matter for Miami as two times NBA MVP LeBron James and Chris Bosh stepped up in his absence.
James recorded team high 19 points, and team high 9 rebounds to go along with 5 assists. Bosh had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Every Miami player got on the scorecard in the game and a notable one was Dexter Pittman, who scored 16 coming off the
bench.
Derrick Brown led the Bobcats with 21 points and also had 9 rebounds. Gerald Henderson had 14 points while Kemba Walker scored 11.
Chris Bosh opened the scoring in the game for Miami but the Bobcats responded and the score was 4 – 4 just after the start. LeBron James then hit one from beyond the arc, after which the Heat did not look back. An 8 – 2 burst put them up 19 – 12 and a 6
– 0 run took their lead into double digits, 25 – 15. The Heat ended the first quarter in control at 33 – 19.
Charlotte didn’t get near Miami afterwards. The second segment saw the Heat easily keeping the Bobcats at an arm’s length. Miami collected 25 points in the period, restricting the Bobcats to 20 and going into the interval up at 58 – 39.
The Bobcats weren’t really expected to make a comeback after the break. The Heat continued to be professional and never let Charlotte get back into the game. They ended the third frame up by over 20 points, and the fourth looked like a formality already.
Some of the big guns of Miami were rested in the final 12 minutes, but the reserves didn’t allow Charlotte too much breathing space. The bell finally rang at 105 – 82.
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