Miami Heat rout Phoenix Suns behind Chris Bosh’s breakout night
Chris Bosh had his best game this season as he led the Miami Heat to a dominating 123-96 win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday 17 November at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
Bosh, who has been criticized for his lacklustre performances in Miami’s first 10 games this season, had his breakout game for the Heat as he scored a game-high 35 points on 12-for-17 shooting
from the field to go with six rebounds.
“We're smart, and we know how to play the correct way,” said Bosh, who shot 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. “We didn't panic. We did not get out of place or anything. We just continued
to play solid basketball.”
LeBron James had another all-around performance with his 20 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds, while Dwyane Wade racked up 17 points, six rebounds, and six assists for the Heat, who
improved their record to 7-4.
“We were focused tonight,” said Wade, who shot 6-for-11 from the field. “No matter what the score got to, I think we would have been fine.”
Miami had a slow start, but they came out firing in the second period as they unleashed a 24-9 run to end the first half with a comfortable 64-43 lead, and they continued to dominate in the
third period, building a 27-point advantage, 100-73, heading into the final period.
The Heat never looked back and even led by as much as 33 points in the fourth period to run away with their largest-winning margin against the Suns in nearly 14 years.
“Well, we weren't necessarily expecting that result,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We just wanted to focus on our game, our energy and really having a defensive edge to us again. That's
one of the most challenging teams to defend.”
Steve Nash, who played with a sore groin, led Phoenix with his 17 points, but he only dished out two assists, which was his lowest since 29 December 2008, when he also tallied two dimes against
the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“They just outplayed us the entire game,” said Nash. “We only have ourselves to blame. We did not play hard. We didn't play with enough aggressiveness or urgency and I think it showed.”
The 36-year-old point guard said after the game that he would consider sitting out in their game against the Orlando Magic on Thursday 18 November. “I kind of took a little risk. It didn't
feel great, but I don't think I did serious damage to it,” he said.
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