LeBron James Has Praise For The Heat After Game 1 Victory
The Miami Heat set the tone in their postseason opener with a 115-91 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Amongst the viewers of the victory was LeBron James. As a member of the Heat from 2010-2014, James was an essential player during their four NBA Finals appearances. He had some positive words for the Heat during their performance.
Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma tweeted, “Miami will find you and develop you. Duncan [Robinson], [Max] Strus, [Gabe] Vincent.”
James responded to Kuzma’s tweet saying, “Facts! Player development [in Miami] is damn good!!”
Duncan Robinson led the team in scoring with 27 points, including eight 3-pointers, a Heat playoff record. Meanwhile, Gabe Vincent had eight points, seven assists, and three rebounds. Max Strus had nine points, one assist, and two rebounds.
The three have all been key role players for Miami throughout the season. Robinson finished the season averaging 10.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. Vincent averaged 8.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Strus averaged 10.6 points, three rebounds and 1.4 assists.
Jimmy Butler spoke about the impact of his teammates in the postgame interview.
“We all know Duncan can get hot like that and constantly make shots,” Butler said. “We need Duncan to do that. All praise be to Duncan, but I was really impressed with Max Strus tonight. The fact that he did not make the shots he normally makes, and he still went down there and guarded on the defensive end. That is a pro’s pro right there. What else can you do to affect the game when you are not making shots? Max has shown us that he can do that now, so we expect him to go out there and guard even he is not making shots.”
The Heat have a 1-0 lead against the Hawks in this series. They will play again on Tuesday night at FTX Arena.
Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
