Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 118-98 win over the Washington Wizards
(2-3) on Saturday night at Arena CDMX in the league’s annual Mexico City game.
The Heat (3-2) now returns to Miami to take on the Sacramento Kings on Monday
before again hitting the road:
After a quiet start to the season, three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo
turned in a dominant performance to lead the Heat to Saturday’s blowout
win over a young Wizards team.
With Adebayo averaging just 11 points on 9.5 field-goal attempts per game
through the Heat’s first four games of the season, the talk leading up to Saturday’s
contest centered around getting Adebayo more involved in the offense.
Mission accomplished, as Adebayo was aggressive and engaged from the start on
the offensive end.
The tone was set on the Heat’s first possession, as Adebayo received the ball and
went to work in the post to score the first points of the game on an eight-foot
hook shot. After missing his first eight three-point attempts of the season,
Adebayo then made his first three of the season a few possessions later for his
second basket of the night.
Adebayo went on to total 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-3
shooting from three-point range and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line and six
rebounds in Saturday’s first half. It went down as Adebayo’s highest-scoring first
half since scoring 20 points in the first half of a Feb. 8, 2023 win over the Indiana
Pacers.
Adebayo closed the Heat’s win over the Wizards with a dominant stat line of 32
points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field, 3-of-5 shooting on threes and 5-of-6
from the foul line, 14 rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 31
minutes. The 32 points, 14 rebounds, 24 field-goal attempts, five three-point
attempts, 12 field-goal makes and three three-point makes are new season highs

It marked just the fourth game in Adebayo’s NBA career that he has finished with
24 or more field-goal attempts. The three three-point makes and five three-point
attempts are also new career highs for Adebayo.
“My teammates got me going early and then it was just a snowball effect from
there,” Adebayo said.
With Adebayo leading the way, the Heat never trailed on Saturday. Miami pulled
ahead by as many as 24 points on its way to the 20-point win.
Along with Adebayo’s big night, the Heat outscored the Wizards 45-21 from threepoint range. Miami also finished with a 21-7 edge in second-chance points with
the help of a 21-7 advantage on the offensive glass, as the Heat finished with
more than 20 offensive rebounds in a game for the first time since Feb. 10, 2019.
The Wizards, which entered playing at the NBA’s second-fastest pace this season,
did outscore the Heat 35-12 in fast-break points. But that wasn’t enough to
overcome the Heat’s dominant effort in other areas of the game, as the Wizards
finished just 7 of 35 (20 percent) from behind the arc.
Adebayo’s Heat co-star Jimmy Butler finished Saturday’s win with 18 points on 6-
of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from the foul line, eight
rebounds and four assists.
Heat guard Tyler Herro recorded 15 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes
before fouling out with 6:20 left in the game.
Bilal Coulibaly led the Wizards with 22 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
Heat second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. was a fan favorite this weekend in
Mexico City.
That’s because Jaquez, albeit early in his career, is on a track that could make him
the best player among the six with Mexican citizenship to ever play in the NBA.

Jaquez, who is the first player with Mexican citizenship to be selected in the first
round of the NBA Draft, was born in the Los Angeles area to a mother of
Norwegian descent and a father with Mexican roots. His father’s family is from
Guadalajara, which is about a seven-hour drive from Mexico City.
Every time Jaquez was subbed in and scored on Saturday, he received loud
cheers from the crowd. He closed the win with eight points on 4-of-12 shooting
from the field, 10 rebounds and one assist in 25 minutes off the bench.
“Everyone blew my expectations away,” Jaquez said. “I couldn’t imagine this
much love being shown to myself and my family. It was truly incredible, and I
was happy to see all the fans and get to interact and be able to sign autographs
and take pictures with people. I can feel the love and it’s very much
reciprocated.”
Even NBA Commissioner Adam Silver noticed the Jaquez effect in Mexico City.
“I do feel that different vibe in the arena here today with Jaime,” Silver said
during a press conference ahead of Saturday’s game. “I think it also helps he’s in,
of all markets, Miami, that has a huge Spanish-speaking population there. In
some cases more Spanish being spoken there than English. You feel it just in
terms of walking around the community here and in the arena the number of
jerseys you see represented of Jaime’s and from the Miami Heat.”
Heat guard Josh Richardson made his season debut. In fact, Richardson
logged his first game minutes since February.
Richardson missed the entire preseason as he worked his way back from surgery
on a right shoulder injury that he suffered during a Feb. 11 loss to the Boston
Celtics. He then was held out of the first two games of the regular season with left
heel enthesopathy and missed Wednesday’s loss to the New York Knicks with a
strained left calf.
Before making his season debut on Saturday, the only time Richardson had been
available and in uniform this season came in Monday’s win over the Detroit

Pistons. But he did not play in that game.
Richardson finished his first appearance in nearly nine months with one rebound
and one assist in 16 minutes off the Heat’s bench on Saturday. He didn’t score,
missing each of his four field-goal attempts.
“Great to be back out there. Lot of rust to knock off, but I’m grateful!” Richardson
tweeted following his season debut.
It will be interesting to see whether Richardson remains in the Heat’s rotation
when Duncan Robinson and Kevin Love return. Robinson and Love, who are both
expected to be fixtures in the Heat’s rotation when they are back, missed
Saturday’s game because of personal reasons.
Love has missed the first five games of the season because of personal reasons.
Robinson missed his first game of the season.
The only other Heat players unavailable for Saturday’s contest were Josh
Christopher and Keshad Johnson, who are in the G League as part of their twoway contracts.
The Heat’s rotation on Saturday also included rookie Pelle Larsson.
The Heat used Alec Burks, Thomas Bryant, Jaquez, Richardson and Larsson to
complete its 10-man rotation against the Wizards. The Heat has gone with a nineman rotation in most games early this season, but went 10-deep on Saturday to
combat the effects of the high altitude in Mexico City.
“We played a little bit of a deeper rotation tonight,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra
said. “Guys were working on getting their second and third wind.”
That led Larsson to play his first meaningful NBA minutes, as his only appearance
this season prior to Saturday came late in the Heat’s blowout loss to the Orlando
Magic in the opener.

Larsson, who was selected by the Heat with the 44th overall pick in the second
round of this year’s draft, closed the Heat’s victory with seven points on 3-of-4
shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting on threes, one rebound, two assists
and one steal in 14 minutes.
Burks closed the win 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range in 29
minutes off the Heat’s bench.
Every available Heat player ended up being used in Saturday’s game, as Haywood
Highsmith, Kel’el Ware and Dru Smith entered to play the final minutes of the
lopsided win.
Saturday marked the third time that the Heat has played in the league’s
annual Mexico City game.
The Heat is 3-0 in those games, as it also won its first two games played in Mexico
City — a 101-89 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 9, 2017 and a 111-101
victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 18, 2022.
“We had a great time, and that was the players, the staff, everybody alike,”
Spoelstra said following Saturday’s win when asked about his latest Mexico City
experience. “We love coming down here, we love the fans, the environment out
there was amazing. We had a couple nights, we got here a night before. The last
time we were here, we only had one night. So we were able to get out and walk
around and enjoy the sights. And the most important thing, we were able to get a
win. So we’re pleased about the last three days.”
Saturday’s matchup marked the NBA’s 33rd game in Mexico since 1992 — more
than any country outside of the United States and Canada — and coincided with
the country’s traditional “Día de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) celebrations,
which began Friday and ended Saturday.