Tensions were high in Miami tonight as Goran Dragic faced off against his old team, it eventually led to Hassan Whiteside being ejected in the 3rd quarter after being fouled by Alex Len of the Phoenix Suns, who was also ejected
by Pedro Armas | Miami SPORTS & Lifestyle
The Suns and HEAT met for the final time this season tonight.
In the last game, Miami left with a victory and were on a franchise record nine straight wins against the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix and Miami both needed a win tonight to stay in playoff contention.
Miami started off the first quarter at a slow pace with a bad defensive start. Markeiff Morris was getting easy buckets which forced the HEAT to pick it up on the defensive side. They pressured the Phoenix offense which led to less given up points.
On the other side of the ball, Miami focuses their offense on Hassan Whiteside. Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade were on the bench most of the first, and the first quarter ended with the HEAT down by one.
HEAT start the second quarter with a lot of forced turnovers, and being able to turn defense into offense by scoring off of these Phoenix turnovers.
A majority of the second quarter points came from inside the paint.
Dragic gets into early foul trouble in the 2nd and that forced him to play limited minutes. Miami then starts to change the pace of the game and speeds it up. Tyler Johnson starts to fill in for Goran Dragic and Miami finishes the first half with a new season high in points in a quarter (39).
The Miami HEAT head into halftime with a 62-48 lead over the Phoenix Suns.
Many fouls were called in the early stages of the third quarter and tensions started to run high as physical combat started to increase among Phoenix-Miami.
Goran Dragic was called for his 5th foul and was sent to the locker room, Markeiff Morris was ejected for a Flagrant II foul on Dragic, Whiteside dunks and is shoved by Alex Len when he comes down, forcing Whiteside to tackle him almost like a football player. Whiteside and Len were then ejected.
With the loss of Hassan Whiteside, Miami became a lot more vulnerable in the paint, but Phoenix doesn't take advantage of that.
Even after the ejections, play was still dirty and referees started to call more technical fouls.
Tyler Johnson scared the HEAT fans tonight as well when he fell on his ankle and appeared to be in a lot of pain, but soon gets up and is moving around the court fine.
Miami keeps it going in the final minutes of play by not letting Phoenix back in it because of a rhythm lead by Goran Dragic and Tyler Johnson that ultimately led to closing out the Suns.
Tyler Johnson had a season high of 26 points, with 11 scored in the 4th. Dragic also had a bit of fun scoring 21 points on his former team with a couple of mid to long range jumpers. Miami had good defensive presence during their offensive runs, and six players from the HEAT had over double digits in scoring.
The Suns started off with good offense taking a nice small lead at the beginning of the game, but Miami responded with pressuring defense and is able to take a huge lead in the second quarter. Markeiff is ejected and Phoenix takes a blow because of that. The Suns start to bring the turnovers down in the second half, but they couldn't make their three pointers and that caused them from getting back into the game.
The Miami HEAT stays in the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs and now prepare for Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 PM EST at the American Airlines Arena. You can catch the game on TV on ESPN (nationally) and locally down here in South Florida on SUN Sports.
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Pedro Armas is a writer and analyst for Miami SPORTS & Lifestyle. He's also made appearances on MSL Radio, most recently South Florida Sports Scene w/ Scott Salomon. You can follow him on Twitter @PedroArmas2323.
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