Heat Top Nuggets As Regular Season Returns

     The Miami Heat restarted the 2019-20 regular season with a 125-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets at HP Field House in Lake Buena Vista on Saturday. Miami will play seven more games outside of Orlando prior to the NBA playoffs to complete the regular season. They entered the contest fourth in the Eastern Conference. 

     It is the first time that the Heat played a regular season game since March 11 against the Charlotte Hornets in Miami. The NBA suspended the season due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

     Miami(42-24) moved out to a 28-26 lead after one quarter. Denver(43-23) got on a 12-4 spurt near the end of the first half and led 57-56 at halftime. The third quarter belonged to the Heat as they outscored the Nuggets by 16 points in the frame to go up 94-79. Miami made it a 22-point margin 117-95 with 4:14 left in the final quarter. 

     Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler both had a team-high 22 points each for the club.  Adebayo fell short of a double-double with game-high nine rebounds. Kelly Olynyk had several three-point shot in the fourth quarter and ended with 20 points. Duncan Robinson dropped in 17 points while Goran Dragic came off the bench with 13. Nikola Jokic and Jerami Grant both had 19 points each for Denver.