Heat’s Waiters opens with a bang in first back and said he knew this would happen

CLEVELAND -- Five takeaways from the Heat’s 117-92 dismantling of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, a night in which Miami outrebounded Cleveland by an absurd 47 to 22 margin:

▪ Dion Waiters is back and made an immediate contribution.

Waiters, appearing in an NBA game for the first time since Dec. 22, 2017, entered with the Heat ahead 37-33 and 6:26 left in the second quarter. He immediately dished to Derrick Jones Jr. for a three-pointer, then hit a long two (which was originally called a three and probably was) and then swished a long three.

Then he hit a driving layup before missing two shots, including a three-point attempt just before the halftime buzzer. Waiters was theatric after each of his baskets, holding up three fingers (and hitting his own backside) after one of the three-pointers and looking toward the Heat bench after another basket.

More importantly, the Heat outscored Cleveland 21-10 with Waiters on the floor in the first half. Waiters showed no ill effects from ankle surgery last January and was effective playing both man-to-man defense (on Rodney Hood) and zone defense during his seven first-half minutes.

Making his first couple shots “was nice,” he said. “Lot of hard work you put in, the rehab day in and day out, the constant grind. So for those shots to fall felt good. I said I was going to make my first couple shots.”

He returned to the game to play the final five minutes and missed all four of his shots from the field and two free throws attempts to finish with seven points and three assists in 11 minutes, shooting 3 for 9 from the field and 1 for 6 on threes.

Did he feel much rust?

“Nah,” he said. “I’ve been working my [butt] off. Coming into it, I was ready. If you think negative thoughts, you get a negative outcome. My whole intention was stay positive, make the shot, take the shot. At the end of the day, you have to bet on yourself. I went in with a great sense of urgency to play the game, have fun. I was mentally just ready. Being able to step between the lines with my brothers, that was the best thing about it.”

Before the game, Erik Spoelstra wasn’t even sure Waiters would play Wednesday.

“Guys were starting to get a little fatigued,” Spoelstra said of the decision to insert Waiters midway through the second quarter. “We had an open gap, thought it would be three to five minutes and we left him in there and he was able to finish out the half. Any minutes at this point, a year being out, is good for him and good for us.”

▪ Josh Richardson was efficient from the field after struggling with his accuracy throughout December.

Richardson shot just 35.9 percent from the field last month and 32.2 percent on threes. He entered Wednesday having made at least half of his shots in a game only once in his last 15 and was 9 for 27 over his past two.

But he opened 4 for 7 in a 12-point first half on Wednesday and closed with 24 points on 9 for 16 shooting, including 4 for 7 on threes.

Richardson is 11^th among shooting guards in scoring at 18.4 points per game but just 25^th in field goal percentage at 40.5, down from 45.1 last season.

That season shooting percentage ranks ahead of only two other qualifying shooting guards – Tim Hardaway Jr. and Eric Gordon. But he said that hasn’t been a concern during the best season of his pro career.

Richardson, at his best, remains very good at creating something late in the shot clock.

“The end of the clock, you need guys that can create and get something over defenses and he has that ability to do that at a high level and he showed that tonight,” Spoelstra said.

▪ The Heat continued its good work on the road.

At 10-7, Miami is now third in the league in road winning percentage, behind only Toronto and Indiana. Milwaukee, Golden State, Denver and Oklahoma City were the only other teams that entered Wednesday with a winning record on the road.

“It shows we have some toughness and some resiliency,” Spoelstra said. “There’s a flip side to that we don’t like but we are going to address that on Friday.”

Spoelstra was referring to the 8-11 home record, with Miami set to host Washington on Friday.

The Heat, incidentally, is now alone in sixth in the Eastern Conference.

▪ The Heat got balanced scoring, with seven in double figures, and that’s a formula that often produces good results.

Five players scored between 16 points (Tyler Johnson) and 10 (Rodney McGruder and Dion Waiters).

“It’s not a criticism for our team to say one of our biggest strengths was our depth and versatility,” Spoelstra said. “We should be a team with seven or eight guys in double figures. Every once in a while, we’ll have a guy that puts up a big game, high 20s. We’ve only had it three times this year where somebody has scored 30. It shows we have a lot of guys that can hurt you and hurt the opponent. It takes a mature, emotionally stable team to be able to understand that.”

▪ Derrick Jones Jr.’s game continues to blossom.

Beyond the defense and athleticism and rebounding and electrifying dunks, Jones is becoming a competent three-point shooter.

Jones had shot just 6 for 39 on three-pointers in his first 52 NBA games entering this season. He’s now 13 for 36 this season after making three of four on Wednesday.

“You have to have somebody willing to do that,” Spoelstra said of the work that Jones put in to improve his shot. “We’re not for everybody. We expect him to be the last one to leave [the gym]. It’s a credit to his work ethic. There’s no magic to it. It’s not like we created a new shot out of it.”

The Heat outscored Cleveland by 27 points during the 31 minutes Jones was on the court, and Jones finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot.

“That’s outrageous,” Spoelstra said of Jones’ plus/minus. “We don’t run a play for him but he’s so active in the zone. Really can be in two places at once and offensively he just finds a way to fit in, gives you extra possessions. The ball doesn’t stick with him. He can cut, create spacing by being under the rim. It’s the byproduct of doing a lot of work nobody sees.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2019 at 10:26 PM.