The Heat Assist Podcast

What an exciting All-Star weekend for Heat fans! As we all know the Heat were able to have a representative in every game and so far, we have not been disappointed! There was a lot of controversy on Aaron Gordon's final dunk over 7’6 Tacko “Taco” Falls and the decision made by Dwayne Wade and the other judges.

But first, we need to recap the Heat’s game against the Utah Jazz prior to the All-Star break. Unfortunately, the Heat lost the road game to a strong Jazz team. Rudy Gobert proved why he was elected to his first All-Star game, providing a strong, physical, low-post defensive presence, and dominating the boards, grabbing a ridiculous 20 rebounds for the game. Donovan Mitchell, Jordan Clarkson and Bojan Bogdonavic also each provided at least 21 points each. The Heat on the other hand did have respectable performances from Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson, and Jae Crowder but it was just not enough. Kendrick Nunn unfortunately continued his shooting woes and the Jazz defense made it very difficult for the Heat’s offense to flow. Missing Tyler Hero and Myers Leonard obviously affected their ability to spread the floor and allowed the Jazz’s defense to anchor down the paint.

On to the All-Star events! On Friday, Kendrick Nunn had a strong presence in the NBA Rising Stars game, starting for Team USA and helping them get the win by providing 16 points. Unfortunately, Duncan Robinson fell short in the 3-point contest, where we saw Buddy Hield clutch an impressive win on the last ball of the competition over Devin Booker. On the bright side, the Heat were able to bring both the Skills Challenge and Slam Dunk trophies thanks to an unbelievable performance by Bam Adebayo and a somewhat controversial win by Derrick Jones Jr. An epic dunk-off ensued between Jones Jr. and Aaron Gordon that will be remembered throughout NBA dunking history. You have to tune-in to find out what the crew thinks!