Miami Heat's victory over the wizards

Here are five points to remember from the 113-112 victory of the Miami Heat's return on Thursday against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.

1. The aggressive Josh Richardson is here to stay. Just one day after setting a new career high with 21 throwing attempts on Wednesday, Richardson tied that total against the Wizards.

The 25-year-old finished Thursday with 28 points on 8 of 21 shots, including 5 of 11 shots to three, four rebounds and five assists. He did his best work in the fourth quarter, leading the heat back with 13 points on 4 out of 7 shots during the period.

"The attack was going through it," coach Erik Spoelstra said of Richardson. "It must be such a boost of confidence in the fourth quarter. The ball is in your hands and you have a Hall of Fame [Dwyane Wade] telling you to "play for the team".

"He's starting to realize what he's capable of doing on a basketball court. More importantly, what he can do for our team when it asserts itself. He managed to do it two nights in a row and to do it consistently throughout this match, especially at the end. "

The next step for Richardson is to combine efficiency and aggression. He averaged 24.5 points out of 38.1% on the field in two games.

2. That's what this heat team does. After playing 53 of the league's highest league games – defined by the NBA as a game with a margin of five points or less in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter – last season, the Heat got off to a good start in defense. this crown. Miami's first two games were decided by a total of four points and were decided each in the final seconds.

"These are great opportunities to gain ground. And we do it within 48 hours, "said Spoelstra. "We had a heartbreaking loss last night, not just because everything was over. But we had moments where we could have done a better job during the game. We did not play to our abilities and it's this match, it's this league.

"We had the opportunity to come back tonight. These home-opening nights are great for your team as they are probably one of the closest matches in terms of concentration and intensity you'll get in the playoffs of the regular season because everyone is at the rendezvous in your first match. in front of your fans. It was good to see us react properly. "

It is not surprising that Miami is in many close games. It's a list of hard-nosed players who are good enough to stay tuned to all teams in the league, but not enough to deal with many rashes.

The Heat finished last season with a 29-24 record in the clutch matches, and it will be important to release another winning record in this department as it is likely that more than half of its matches will fall in this category. Kelly Olynyk was the man who saved the day on Thursday, with a winning putback lay-up with 0.2 second to play.

3. Derrick Jones Jr. recorded an encouraging rebound performance. The opening match did not take place as expected for Jones, who lost after 17 minutes of play after Wednesday's loss to the Magic.

But Jones was a difference maker on Thursday, with a career-high 17 points on 5 out of 10 shots. Known as "airplane mode" because of his elite vertical jump, Jones showed his ability to score points and to make mistakes by playing over the rim.

"It was great to see him bounce back after having big problems last night and have contributed to a lot of similar efforts in athletic fields," Spoelstra said.

Jones, 21, will not do it every night. He is still a player who could find himself out of the rotation when Wayne Ellington, Justine Winslow, James Johnson and Dion Waiters will come back from injury. But Thursday's performance was what the Heat had planned by converting Jones' two-way deal into a standard NBA contract last summer.

4. One night after the second chance points hurt the Heat, the script was reversed. Miami ended Thursday with a rebound of 55-40, which earned it a 27-10 advantage in second chance points, which helped avoid its turnover problems (with 19 turnovers). Olynyk's offensive rebound and the winning performance of the match was obviously the biggest opportunity for rebound and second chance.

The Magic beat the Heat 28-13 in second place on Wednesday.

"It will be the constant discussion all year long. Who can play the game? Spoelstra said: "The constant story around the league is speed, space, three-point shooting, speed, but there's always room for size and fitness if it's We think we have the versatility of our team to do both, but it takes a lot of commitment, and tonight we were able to get rid of some of these extra assets. "

5. The next step for warmth is a stretch from which it must take advantage. Although Miami was the only team to start the season with a back-to-back set (and both games came on the road), a much more favorable stage is expected.

The Heat will play eight of its next 11 home games, starting with a four-game family match that begins Saturday against the Charlotte Hornets. After a 1-1 start, this should be a step that will help Miami build a cushion above the .500 mark.

There should be no pressure on a team so early in the season, but the Heat should take advantage of this part of its schedule. Following this milestone, Miami is on the road for 10 of the 16 games, including a six-game trip that begins on the west coast.