The Portland Trail Blazers snatched the hearts of Heat fans in Miami Monday night, continuing their winning ways and pushing Spoelstra’s squad’s record to 4-7.
The game was a bona fide nail biter, with the two teams ending the first quarter tied. But the contest had a SportsCenter Top 10 finish.
Down to the Wire
FTX Arena saw a playoff-level finish to an early regular season game that was nothing short of ridiculous.
With 8.5 seconds left to go and the Blazers leading 107-104, Kyle Lowry inbounded the ball on the near side. Jimmy Butler screened Josh Hart before Bam Adebayo sealed him off, giving Max Strus enough space to catch the ball and shoot a contested corner three to tie the game.
And it was nothing but net. However, there were still 6.2 seconds remaining.
Damian Lillard raced the ball across midcourt and fired a pass to Josh Hart, who nailed the game-winning three-point jumper as time expired. Portland won 110-107.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1589827696707588099?s=20&t=VKn_Cvg6zzuVLcrG1xrURw
The Heat is Off
Miami sits at No. 12 in the Eastern Conference after a rough start to the season. The team is sure to improve over the course of the season, but it will need to get it together in a big way if it wants to return to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The team will host the Hornets Thursday.
Blazers Feeling Rosy
Portland has had an excellent start to the season. At one point the team led the Western Conference, though it now sits at third. The Trail Blazers are getting excellent production from their guard tandem.
Lillard is averages 29 points per game, while $100M man Ant Simons is at 22.4. Newcomer Jerami Grant, who averages 18.4 points per game, was the team’s second leading scorer Monday with 23.
Portland will visit Charlotte Wednesday.the
BLAZERS WIN!!
BLAZERS WIN!! pic.twitter.com/35S7SZza7R— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) November 8, 2022