The good news for the Miami Heat and starting point guard Goran Dragic comes in the box score. The Heat picked up a big win, 122-101, over the East-leading Cavaliers on Saturday, led by 18 points (on 7-of-12 FG) and 11 assists from Dragic.
The Heat (40-29) have now won seven of their past 10 games, putting them fourth in the Eastern Conference and within a half-game of Atlanta for third.
That’s the good news. As for the bad, check out this dunk attempt from Dragic after he picked the pocket of Cleveland’s James Jones and got a transition runout:
Dragic wanted to dunk that so badly ???????????? pic.twitter.com/qrHHybaDdL
— Abdul Memon (@abdulamemon) March 20, 2016
But Dragic, now 29 years old and an eight-year veteran, has enough experience to laugh it off:
Great home win vs Cavs, it was amazing atmosphere at AAA. Thank u @MiamiHEAT fans!!! I almost dunked ???????????? #FlatTire #TheDragon ????????????????
— Goran Dragić (@Goran_Dragic) March 20, 2016
Dragic signed an $85-million, five-year contract this past offseason to stay in Miami, and until the All-Star break, he had largely fallen short of expectations — leading many to speculate if he might be on the trading block.
But in the 16 games after the break, Dragic is averaging 17.9 points (on 48.5% FG) and 7.7 assists in 34 minutes per game — numbers that are much more reflective of what Miami’s Pat Riley probably expected after giving him that massive contract last July.
The Heat have also won 11 of those 16 games. So for all practical purposes, things are going about as well as they could for Dragic and his team.
As long as they don’t ask him to dunk.
Ben DuBose is a veteran sports reporter who has followed the Houston Rockets and the NBA since Hakeem Olajuwon was Akeem Olajuwon. He writes for both SheridanHoops and ClutchFans, an independent Rockets blog. You can follow him on Twitter and listen to his Houston sports podcast.