MIAMI (AP) — An easy win still presented the Miami Heat with some potential issues.
James Johnson scored 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting, the Heat piled up 76 points in the paint and rolled past the Washington Wizards 129-102 on Saturday night.
Miami’s starting five shot 77 percent, with Johnson and Josh Richardson — the Heat starting forwards — connecting on a combined 14 of their 15 shots.
“We were very detail-oriented,” Johnson said.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/972689326969671680
But the postgame mood was at least somewhat tempered by injury concerns.
Dwyane Wade left early in the fourth with a mild hamstring strain, and doesn’t expect to play on Monday when the Heat start a three-game road trip in Portland. Justise Winslow left the floor with the final seconds running off the clock after appearing to have some sort of problem with his right knee, but the Heat believe he’s fine. And those were preceded by Hassan Whiteside being unable to play at all because of hip soreness.
“I won’t be in the lineup against Portland,” said Wade, who described the strain as feeling like a slight cramp that wouldn’t go away. “I can probably guarantee that. I’ll have time to get treatment, take it day-to-day and see when I can get back. Hopefully I’m not out too long. These things suck, no question about it.”
It’s minor. I’ll be back out there with these young guns soon enough. Levitate Levitate… https://t.co/ah9LkHLtdd
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) March 11, 2018
Wayne Ellington scored 17 for Miami. Kelly Olynyk had 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Tyler Johnson, Rodney McGruder and Richardson all scored 13 for the Heat, who never trailed and outscored Washington 43-28 in the third.
That was Miami’s highest-scoring quarter in a regular-season contest since Oct. 30, 2013 — 394 games ago.
“Our depth, and multiple guys being able to contribute, is the strength of our team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Jodie Meeks scored 23 for the Wizards, whose five-game winning streak was snapped. Bradley Beal scored 14 for Washington, which needed overtime to beat Miami on the second night of a Heat back-to-back earlier in the week and was coming in off a win Friday at New Orleans.
“It’s definitely embarrassing,” Meeks said. “There’s no excuses for being tired.”
Washington was within two points at 46-44 with 3:51 left in the second quarter, and from there it was all Heat. Over the next 16 minutes, Miami outscored the Wizards 71-35.
“I’m disappointed,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “I’m disappointed in myself. I’m disappointed in our guys. … Not too many guys in the history of this game can go out and play the way we did tonight and have success. It’s not acceptable.”
It was Miami’s 11th consecutive game scoring at least 100 points, tying the third-longest such streak in team history.
Miami (36-31) carved out a split of the four-game season series with Washington, plus got within two games of the Wizards (38-29) in the Eastern Conference playoff race. A loss on Saturday and the Heat’s chances of catching the Wizards would have taken a serious hit — since they would have been four games down and with no hope of winning a tiebreaker.
“Everybody’s on the same page,” said Heat guard Goran Dragic, who scored 10 points and was one of eight Miami players in double figures. “Every night, somebody else is going to have a big scoring. It’s awesome to have this kind of rotation.”
TIP-INS
Wizards: Washington plays only three games in the next 10 days, and two of those are on a back-to-back. … The Wizards waved the white flag in the third, and both benches were emptied for the fourth.
Heat: Richardson now has 890 points this season, which is 10 more than he had in his first two seasons combined. … Miami’s only longer streaks of scoring 100 points were a 14-game run in 1994, and a 12-game streak last season. The Heat also had an 11-game streak in 2016. … The Heat were averaging 100.4 points before Wade returned. In his 12 games back, they’ve averaged 111.5 per game.
WADE MILESTONE
Wade’s first basket of the night was the 8,000th of his career. He’s also now six points shy of 22,000.
GRINDING
Washington is now eight games through a stretch of 13 consecutive games against teams with winning records — all without All-Star guard John Wall. The Wizards are now 4-4 in those games, and won’t face a sub-.500 team again until hosting New York on March 25.
UP NEXT
Wizards: Host Minnesota on Tuesday.
Heat: Visit Portland on Monday.
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