Shorthanded Heat bounce back with 106-90 rout of Wizards

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Mar 3, 2025

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MIAMI – The perfect cure for the hangover of a blown 19-point lead a night earlier?

The Washington Wizards, right on schedule for the Miami Heat.

Against the NBA’s 30th ranked offense and 28th ranked defense, Erik Spoelstra’s team was able to push past the sting of Sunday night’s overtime loss to the New York Knicks with a 106-90 victory Monday night over the league-worst Wizards.

Despite five rotation players being out – Kel’el Ware, Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, Jaine Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic – the Heat had enough to close out a 3-1 homestand against a schedule that now stiffens significantly.

On a night Bam Adebayo passed Rony Seikaly’s franchise career double-double record with 19 points and 14 rebounds, the Heat also got 17 points from Duncan Robinson, 16 from Pelle Larsson, 16 from Tyler Herro and 15 from Terry Rozier.

Up next for the Heat is a Wednesday night road game against the league-best Cleveland Cavaliers and then a matchup Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the start of a five-game homestand.

Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:

— Game flow: The Heat led 32-24 at the end of the first quarter and 55-46 at halftime.

From that 19-point lead, the Wizards moved within eight late in the third period.

The Heat then took an 81-68 lead into the fourth quarter.

From there, the Heat pushed their lead into the 20s, removing any concern of a replay of Sunday night’s closing disaster against the Knicks.

— Unique approach: With Ware sidelined by a knee sprain sustained in Sunday’s loss and with Mitchell out with a quad contusion also sustained Sunday, the Heat went deep into the roster for a starting lineup of Adebayo, Herro, Kevin Love, Alec Burks and Rozier.

It was Love’s first action since Feb. 5. He had been out of the rotation or on personal leave in the interim. Love then had seven rebounds in his opening 6:56 stint, closing with nine.

It was Burks’ third start of the season, having also started Sunday night’s loss to the Knicks.

— Adebayo’s night: Adebayo had his double-double by halftime, largely having his way against Wizards rookie big man Alex Sarr.

Adebayo’s double-double record was recognized during a third-quarter stoppage, with teammates rising in applause.

In addition to his points and rebounds, Adebayo also chipped in as a facilitator in the absence of Mitchell, who had been starting at point guard, adding five assists.

— Still there: Held out of five of the previous six games and used for just one minute in that other appearance, second-round pick Larsson offered a reminder of his ability to provide energy off the bench.

It was Larsson’s first game scoring in double figures since going for 11 points in the Jan. 21 blowout home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

His previous scoring high had been 14 points in a Nov. 24 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

— Staying solid: Robinson continued his solid play in reserve, scoring in double figures for a fourth consecutive game, something he had not done since late January.

It also was Robinson’s fourth consecutive game with multiple 3-pointers.

He closed 7 of 13 from the field, including 3 of 7 on 3-pointers.

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