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NEW ORLEANS — — With Bam Adebayo scoring 26 points, the Miami Heat took a comfortable first quarter lead in a 124-98 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night.
“I played great basketball the whole game,” said Adebayo, who shot 11-of-15 in about 30 minutes on the court.
“We always try to get along with each other and I love teammates like that,” added Adebayo.
Jimmy Butler added 18 points and Gabe Vincent hit four 3-pointers as part of the Heat’s 16-point night. They led without ever trailing, except for his two minutes in the opening to take his fourth win in five games.
The Heat beat New Orleans 64-48 in the paint and beat the Pelicans 43-37, and that dominance has a lot to do with Adebayo’s play, Heat’s Eric Spoelstra said.
“Ultimately, we want to involve Bam as much as possible. Spoelstra said, ‘He’s good at getting to the rim and that’s what he was doing tonight.’
CJ McCallum scored 21 points for the Pelicans. They lost 7 of 10 while playing much of that stretch without star power forward Zion Williamson.
Jonas Valanciunas tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans to temporarily cut a 19-point halftime deficit to 12 in the third quarter before Miami pulled away again.
Pelicans manager Willie Green said, “We didn’t come out with the level of urgency needed to play against a good team. We didn’t have that tonight. Normally we do, but we didn’t tonight.” .
Green said, “This is the time of the season that is Dog Day, so to speak. Every little thing has to be done to make it ready to play.”
Miami guard Kyle Lowry has returned from a sore left knee that has sidelined him for four games. He played 22 minutes and finished with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
“It’s good to be back,” Lowry said. “I’m feeling really good now, so I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Spoelstra said Lowry could have played more but didn’t have to push him with the game in hand.
“His time was really good, especially in the first half,” Spoelstra said, noting Lowry’s early base steals and his overall physical presence on defense.
Miami took the lead in the first quarter with 20, going 30-10 with Vincent’s 3. The Pelicans responded with his 10-2 run, and Nagy took a foul on his Marshal and drove his layup to close at 33-23 at one point, but Miami didn’t let it close in the first half.
Vincent’s 3 as the horn blew to end the first quarter kicked off a 12-2 run, and Miami rebuilt the lead to 23 when Max Strus’ 3 made it 54-21.
“Offensively, Kyle, Jimmy, Tyler and Bam have been incredibly aggressive right from the start. That’s the mentality we should have,” Spoelstra said.
Miami scored the most points in the first half of the season against New Orleans, 70-46 on Tyler Herro’s finger roll.
A 3 banked by Alvarado in the final seconds of the half pulled New Orleans to 70-51.
tip in
Heat: Strass has 16 points and 10 assists. … hero he scored 14 points. … Caleb Martin and Orlando Robinson scored 10 points each. … five straight victories, three of which were in New Orleans. … In the first half he shot 59.2% (29 of 49) and in the end he shot 53.2% (50 of 94). … He made 12 of his 35 from 3-point range.
Pelicans: Pelicans coach Willie Green chose to use his challenge when Alvarado was called for a defensive foul on Caleb Martin’s drive in the second quarter. Officials ruled that the elbow was a “natural act” and that Alvarado’s blocking foul was valid. … Herb Jones sat with a birthmark on his lower back. … Williamson missed eight straight games with a strained right hamstring. …Brandon his Ingram missed 26 straight games with a bruised left big toe.
Citable
Spoelstra grinned when he said Strus’ 10 assists were likely “his most at any level”.
Strauss said that’s about right.
“I’ve never passed a ball like that in my life,” he said.
next
Heat: Friday night in Dallas.
Pelicans: Friday night in Orlando.
——
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP–Sports
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