Leader of a Heat team decimated by injuries, Kyle Lowry had a huge game on the ground in Washington. He will have just missed the victory to validate a magnificent evening.
For the home score box of this meeting, it’s here.
The carnage continues for the band to Erik Spoelstra. Already diminished when visiting the Raptors, the Heat has again reached a new level of depression by putting down its injury report. SEVEN is the number of players that the Miami coach could line up tonight in Washington. And the worst part of the story is that there weren’t just the crème de la crème left. See for yourself.
So here is Kyle Lowry with Max Strus and Caleb Martin as lieutenants plus players from the end of the bench to face a full Wizards team that remains on 5 wins in 6 games. Honestly, we weren’t betting much on the Sud Plage friends.
And then comes the surprise. United, aggressive, ready to fight for each other, with a well-functioning zone defense, the Miami players teach Washington a lesson. At the center of it all is Kyle Lowry. Rotation to seven obliges, the veteran was forced to assume a huge playing time (51 minutes out of 53 possible!) And he met expectations with an equally XXL triple-double: 24 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds but also 2 cons. It’s simply his best game of the season and wouldn’t it be one of his best since he arrived at the Heat at all? The question needs to be asked.
Kyle Lowry in 50 minutes:
24 PTS (season high)
10 REB
15 AST (season high)
2 BLK (season high)Top 10 in triple-doubles among active players. pic.twitter.com/w9bXi27lpf
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 19, 2022
Imagine, without Kyle Kuzma’s equalizer to send everyone into overtime, Miami would have beaten Washington and we’re not talking about the B or C version of the Heat, we’re closer to the P version. But with a Kyle Lowry exemplary and who gives everything, young young people who show themselves (Jovic, Orlando Robinson, Highsmith’s money time!), we haven’t gone far from the exploit of the day and it’s already crazy as an accomplishment. Given the scenario, the victory would have been deserved but it will have lacked a small dose of additional energy, a little bit of luck to snatch the decision when the breath ran out. The Heat will have had two winning shots and will have missed them. It’s the game, the defeat is at the end but the grounds for satisfaction are there on the South Beach side.
At the end of the effort, Kyle Lowry will have tried everything to offer Miami an unexpected victory. Unfortunately for Pat Riley, his young squad ran out of juice at the end of the match and it was the Wizards who prevailed, avoiding at the same time a defeat which would have been damn embarrassing given the circumstances.