For the Heat, their current form is overwhelming, with they having won 6 of their last seven games. The icing on the cake is that former All-Star Oladipo, who has been absent from their roster for as much as a season and a half in this game, will return to play against his old club, the Rockets. Although he will be subject to strict restrictions in this campaign, the fans still have high hopes for his performance.
Although the Heat were in first place in the East and the Rockets were the bottom team in the West, the game was still full of suspense in the first half. In the first quarter, the Rockets had a 9-point lead under Green, and in the first half of the second quarter, the Rockets were still in excellent shape, further widening the point difference. Until the end of the section, the game suddenly changed, and the Heat played a wave of 17:3 small climax to successfully complete the rebound. In the second half, the Heat grew more and more courageous in the third quarter, pulling the point difference to double digits. In the final quarter, led by the likes of Hiro and Oladipo, the Heat eventually beat the Rockets 123:106.
Although Hiro, who scored 31 points in this campaign, is the best player on the court, what attracts the attention of fans the most is the performance of Oladipo after his return. In this game, Oladipo, who had been absent for as many as 300 days, came back and was subject to strict restrictions, and although he only played 15 minutes in this game, he played a very surprising performance. In those 15 minutes, Oladipo shot 4-of-7, including 2-of-3 from three-point range, and scored 11 points and four assists. For a player who has been seriously injured many times and has not played for a long time, such a table is not easy.
In the first quarter of the match, Oladipo was greeted by the cheers of the home fans. Not long after playing, Oladipo was in a defensive position, facing the opponent's tall inside Shin Kyo-tsu, breaking through and causing an offensive foul, completing an extremely wonderful defense. However, on the offensive end, Oladipo was obviously still looking for a state at the beginning, and in the case of the first two shots in the second quarter, when there were about 8 minutes left in the second quarter, Oladipo hit the bottom corner three-pointer steadily after receiving a pass from Lowry, and got his first score after his personal comeback.
In the second half, Oladipo made his debut again at the end of the third quarter. Just on the field, he once again played a wonderful performance, first attracting two defenders during a bottom corner breakthrough, sending exquisite non-human passes in the gap between the two, and assisting Diamond to complete a violent dunk. Soon he made a sharp break in the offense, scoring two more points. In the first half of the final quarter, Oladipo, who remained on the court, continued his performance, in addition to causing another offensive foul on the defensive end and delivering assists on the offensive end, he also completed a dunk that completely announced his return.
With about 10 minutes and 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Oladipo used the blocking of his teammates in an attack and successfully broke through to the inside line, directly completing a domineering one-handed split, completely declaring that his physical condition was no problem. After this dunk, Oladipo's self-confidence fully returned, and in the following round, he received a pass from his teammate and hit the bottom corner three-pointer. In the end, in a short 15 minutes of playing time, Oladipo has already cut 11 points and 4 assists, and has caused a lot of trouble for the opponent on the defensive end.
The performance after the return of this game is too important for Oladipo's entire career, after all, this campaign proved that despite his many major injuries, he can still get a foothold in the league. As the 2013 pick, Oladipo finally played his own strength after joining the Pacers after several seasons of ups and downs. In the 2017-2018 season, Oladipo played in 75 games for the Pacers, averaging 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game, and was selected to the all-team third team and was also named to the first team of the best defensive team.
But the following season, in a game against the Raptors, Oladipo suffered a horrific injury from a torn tendon in his right knee and was reimbursed for the season. After a long year of recovery, Oladipo made his comeback in the 2019-2020 season, but after his comeback, he obviously could not find his original form, and could only average 14.5 points per game with a 39.4% shooting rate. The following season, Oladipo was eventually traded to the Rockets in the middle of the season, where his offensive efficiency declined significantly, although his form recovered.
Eventually, he was traded to the Heat by the Rockets before the trade deadline, and after just four games for the Heat, he was injured and reimbursed for the season. In the offseason, although other teams offered him larger contracts, he ultimately chose to stay with the Heat on a base salary contract. With most of the games missed this season, the current Oladipo has finally made a comeback. After missing out for as many as 300 days, Oladipo still played a satisfactory performance after his comeback.
And for Oladipo, judging by this game, the Heat are undoubtedly his best choice. On the one hand, Oladipo's tough style and extremely good defense fit the Heat's team system perfectly, while on the other hand, the Heat have great respect for Oladipo from players to coaches. In this game, including Lowry, Hiro and many role players are consciously feeding Oladipo the ball, hoping that he can get more opportunities to recover, which is undoubtedly very conducive to Oladipo's injury and recovery.
For the Heat, Oladipo's comeback is undoubtedly the icing on the cake for them. After his return to the team, the Heat's current rotation is even deeper, and in the event that the team's starting player is injured and unable to play, Oladipo can fully serve as the starting guard. If it is played as a substitute player, then the heat's lineup depth will be very scary. All in all, both in their current form and in terms of roster depth, the Heat will be one of the most promising teams in the league to win the championship this season.