Over the years, including the Miami Heat’s 35 seasons, it has not been unusual for NBA teams to hold grueling practices as a means of getting players to sweat the alcohol out, with that a particular Pat Riley approach when Heat players reveled a bit too much in the wake of the team’s 2006 NBA championship.
But Thursday night’s game against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks took booze and basketball to a different level, somewhat staggering Bucks forward Pat Connaughton.
During the game’s initial possession of what would turn into the Heat’s 108-102 victory, Connaughton stumbled into the first row while fouled on a 3-point attempt by Heat forward Haywood Highsmith.
And, so, welcome to cocktail hour.
“I fell into the guy and the tequila like fumbled in his hands and went right into my eye,” Connaughton said of his visit to Margaritaville 16 seconds into the game. “I smelled like tequila all game.”
Oh, and the incident seemingly also added salt to that wound.
“I was burning. I don’t drink so I don’t know what it was,” Connaughton said postgame, still a bit salty. “It was in my eye and it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.
“Never seen that one.”
He then converted the first of the three free throws awarded, before missing the next two.
“It didn’t do great for my free throws right afterwards,” he said. “But I was trying.”
With the teams having a day off before meeting again Saturday on the Heat’s court, there at least will be ample time for dry cleaning.
“I probably still smell like tequila. My jersey does for sure,” he said following Thursday’s loss, after closing with nine points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 2 of 8 on 3-pointers.
Now the question will be the degree of day drinking on Saturday, with the nationally televised rematch tipping off at 1 p.m.
Among the more intriguing elements of Thursday night’s victory was the chemistry between Victor Oladipo and Gabe Vincent as a reserve backcourt tandem, with Vincent closing with a career-high 28 points and Oladipo with 14, including nine in the fourth quarter.
“In training camp, we played them a ton of minutes together, and a lot of possessions together, to try to build that chemistry,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Sometimes it just clicks. And for them, they just have a really cool understanding of like who can be on the ball, who can be off the ball, and they can just flip that seamlessly.
“I didn’t have to overcoach it or over-teach it or stress out about it, like you probably would in a lot of places in the league. Everybody wants to be on the ball. And the two of them have just a cool synergy about them and can work seamlessly, based on the pressure of where we can get the ball. They both feel comfortable and confident that they can impact either way. "
The two have played 168 minutes together over nine games, with the Heat outscoring opponents by 5.9 points per 100 possessions when on the court together.
“And as they both get healthier and get more confident in being aggressive, they’re not getting in each other’s way,” Spoelstra said. “It’s quite the opposite. They’re able to complement each other, and that’s a beautiful thing to see.”
The Heat had converted 55 consecutive free throws over a three-game span before Jimmy Butler missed the team’s penultimate attempt in Thursday’s 15 of 16 effort. The 55 in a row is the most since the league began tracking such play-by-play in 1996-97. The only other team to make at least 50 straight since 1996-97 was the Portland Trail Blazers (last season, Nov. 17-23, 2021) . . .
With Thursday’s victory, the Heat have split their last 14 regular-season games against the Bucks, winning the past four in Miami.
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