The Miami Heat beat the Sacramento Kings 104-98 in the first of their three scrimmages on Wednesday night. The Heat, who were without starters Bam Adebayo and Kendrick Nunn, got off to a hot start thanks to remarkable outside shooting from Duncan Robinson.
The former Michigan Wolverines player hardly showed any rust, immediately getting back into the flow of things to score the first basket of the game from beyond the arc. The undrafted sharpshooter racked up 12 quick points dialing from long distance as the Heat took a 21-8 lead on 7/8 shooting from behind the three-point line. Erik Spoelstra’s side didn’t score from inside until Andre Iguodala stuffed in an uncontested dunk with 2:13 to go in the quarter.
Miami led by as much as 17 in the first half and ended the period with a 12-point lead. The Kings surged back to outscore the Eastern Conference side by 10 points in the third quarter, with Buddy Hield and Kent Bazemore proving difficult to handle as Luke Walton’s side went into the fourth quarter just two points adrift of their opponents.
Spoelstra opted to keep Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler out of the entire second half, keen on getting to the end of his bench. The Kings got to within two points multiple times in the fourth; however, rookies Tyler Herro, Gabe Vincent and Chris Silva were instrumental in maintaining their team’s lead until the end of the game.
Robinson led all Heat scorers with 18 points in his 20 minutes played, hitting five threes out of Miami’s 14.
