By Cody Queen
Queen Media Sports Report
Miami made Sunday night in Sacramento harder than it needed to be and still left California with the win. The Heat beat the Kings 114-108 at Golden 1 Center, Giannis Antetokounmpo put up 29 points and 14 rebounds, and Miami is 4-6. Sacramento is 1-9 and still hasn't won at home, 0-5 in its own building.
About that opponent. A 1-8 team playing without Domantas Sabonis, who sat with left knee soreness, is a game you circle in pen. Miami led by 16 in the third quarter and looked like it was cruising. Then it wasn't. The Kings chipped away, and De'Andre Hunter's two free throws tied it at 95 with 6:12 left. The Heat closed 19-13 from there, which is the good news. That they needed to is the less good news.
Giannis was Giannis around the rim. He shot 14 of 23, added three assists, two steals and two blocks in 34 minutes, and Miami was plus-19 with him on the floor, best on the team. He took one three and missed it, and nobody's losing sleep over that. The free-throw line is a different conversation. He went 1 for 7, the team went 8 for 18, and every miss gave a struggling team one more reason to hang around. That has to get cleaned up before the schedule stops handing Miami teams like this one.
Klay Thompson spent the night living off the attention Giannis draws, which is exactly how this pairing is supposed to work. The defense collapses, the ball swings, and a guy who has made a career out of catching and shooting gets his feet set. Thompson scored 23 on 8 of 15 shooting, went 7 of 13 from deep and never attempted a free throw. He finished plus-18, one point behind Giannis. As a team Miami made 18 of 43 threes, 41.9 percent, and Pelle Larsson chipped in three makes on four tries for 11 points.
If I'm handing out a game ball, though, I might give it to Davion Mitchell. He played a team-high 40 minutes and had 17 points and 11 assists against two turnovers. Miami assisted on 29 of its 44 baskets, and the guy running the show is a big part of why. Bam Adebayo had 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. In the first half alone, Adebayo, Giannis and Mitchell combined for 41 of Miami's 68 points, and the Heat went to the locker room up 68-59.
The official scoring report shows how this team wants to win. Sacramento turned it over 20 times. Miami turned those into 23 points while giving it away 13 times itself, and the Heat won fast-break points 21-8. Get a stop, force a mistake, run, and have Giannis heading downhill before anyone on the other side gets set. When that works, Miami is a problem.
When it doesn't, you get the rest of the box score, and the rest isn't pretty. Sacramento won the paint 46-38, won second-chance points 20-16 and won the glass 44-36. Precious Achiuwa pulled down 14 rebounds, five on the offensive end. With Giannis and Adebayo on the floor, getting pushed around inside by a team missing Sabonis isn't acceptable, and I don't think anybody in that locker room would argue. Then there's the line again. The Kings went 21 of 23. That's 13 more made free throws on five more attempts, which is a fun little math problem for the plane ride to Utah.
And then there was Darius Acuff Jr., who nearly dragged Sacramento back into it by himself. He scored 32 with 10 assists on 11 of 21 shooting. Zach LaVine added 15 and Hunter 14, but Acuff was the reason there was a comeback at all. Miami is going to see plenty of guards like him, and letting him get to his spots all night isn't much of a plan.
The rotation stayed short. Five players, Nikola Jović among them, got a DNP-Coach's Decision. Ten games in, the Heat are 4-6 and still sorting out who fits around a new superstar, which takes time whether anyone likes it or not.
A road win is a road win, though, and there's no time to admire this one. The trip continues Tuesday at Utah, with tipoff at 9 p.m. ET.
Don't just watch the game. Understand it. Queen Media Sports Report.
Cody Queen is the lead columnist for the Queen Media Sports Report, bringing you the hard hitting facts, the deep dives, and the unapologetic truth about the teams you love. Queen Media Sports Report is brought to you by Backwater Royalty.
