The last two games of the 30th season of the Miami Heat finished this way.
The Miami Heat scored not one, not two but only twelve points in the 4th quarter in their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Westbrook finished with 23 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists for the Thunder, who missed their first ten shots and were down by 18 in the opening minutes before outscoring the Heat 39-12 in the fourth.
It was the third-worst scoring margin for any quarter in Heat history, and the worst ever in a game at Miami. Get this; Miami outscored Oklahoma City 58-32 in the paint. It was still a loss.
There was a bright side that can’t be taken away from the loss. Heat guard Dwyane Wade was presented with the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for March, recognizing his response to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union donated $200,000 toward getting students to the “March for Our Lives” event in Washington last month. “I came back to this city at a time when I was needed when my voice was needed,” Wade said.
The experts expected the same, but the Heat proved them wrong, in the final game of the season hosting the Eastern Conference-best Toronto Raptors.
Wayne Ellington carried the Heat. You read correctly.
Ellington scored a career-high 32 points while setting Miami’s single-season record for 3-pointers. Also, the Heat locked up the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs by beating the Toronto Raptors 116-109 in overtime.
“I am grateful, humble and I am appreciative,” Ellington stated.
Ellington needed six 3s to beat the record of 225 that Damon Jones set in the 2004-05 season. He finished the season with 227 and now gets to go to his hometown of Philadelphia to start the postseason.
“It’s just absolutely fitting that it would come down to an overtime game with this group,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It was a heck of a regular season. Now we’re on to the second act.”
A year ago on the last night of the season, the Heat were left heartbroken after missing the playoffs.
Miami clinched the six seed finishing the season 44-38 overall, clinched the southeast division finishing 11-5, 26-15 at home, 18-23 on the road and 5-5 in their last ten games with fair competition in the mix. Now, time for the playoffs.
Photo/RomanGaray/WORLDWIDEWEST
