Entries by Mateo Mayorga

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Heat handled the Raptors in Miami in the fourth Emirates Cup match of the season

The Heat overpowered the lowly Toronto Raptors in the fourth Emirates Cup match of the year, improving to a 9-8 record. Bam Adebayo recorded his eighth career triple-double, and the crew also set their season high in 3-point makes (21) after poor marksmanship in the first half.   The first quarter was a defensive battle. […]

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: No Giannis, no problem for the Bucks getting a clutch time win versus the Heat in Miami

The Heat failed to complete a 22-point comeback against the Milwaukee Bucks minus their All-Star freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo. His absence was no issue because Damian Lillard wasted coverages, and the rest of the Bucks converted 41% of their hoisted treys, as Erik Spoelstra was outcoached by Laurence Fishburne.    First, Lillard led the stampede, draining […]

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Jimmy Butler delivers the Heat a win in a late thriller versus the Mavericks

The Heat won its second game in a row with its new starting lineup, putting down the Wild Horses, minus Luka Dončić.   Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Bam Adebayo had the Heat down 15-18 at the first substitution, nearly six minutes into the first quarter. Their biggest early mistakes were […]

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat fail to pull off comeback in Denver versus the Nuggets

The touring Miami Heat were overmatched by the Denver Nuggets in Jamal Murray’s return, suffering its third straight loss. Nikola Jokić created overreactions for himself and his teammates. Vintage Murray torched the perimeter. And the Nuggets shot 61.7% from the field, including 51.4% from deep.   The Nuggets only needed four minutes of action to […]