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Heat close out summer league with victory over Pistons, as ex-‘Cane Donaldson fills box score
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- Heat close out summer league with victory over Pistons, as ex-‘Cane Donaldson fills box score
During a month to remember for the Miami Heat, one highlighted by Thursday's welcoming of Giannis Antetokounmpo, summer league was destined to take a back seat.
And it did, with the Heat on Friday night closing out a 2-3 run at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League with a 101-87 victory over the Detroit Pistons summer roster at Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus.
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"Obviously we would have liked to win more games, but that's not all summer league is about," said Wayne Ellington, the Erik Spoelstra assistant who guided the Heat summer roster. "I like to walk away from this feeling like most of these guys got better, they learned a lot."
With most of the prime components of the summer roster given the night off, the Heat got final summer looks at a few who next are expected to move on to training camp, namely two-way players Tre Donaldson and Vlad Goldin.
Donaldson closed with 20 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. Goldin finished with eight points and five rebounds, limited to 19 minutes after rolling an ankle.
Donaldson said he wanted to end summer league on a high note.
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"I'm a bad sore loser, so just trying to win," he said in his televised postgame interview. "And leading my team, that was the biggest thing."
Donaldson played the entire second half.
"This game by Tre, he got stronger and stronger as the game went on, so he forced me to keep him in," Ellington said. "He forced me to keep him in by his play."
Otherwise, it was a night for Ellington to offer minutes to those who had seen limited minutes over the team's eight-game summer schedule.
Counting the Heat's 2-1 record in the California Classic in San Francisco that preceded the Las Vegas event, the Heat closed the summer 4-4 in Ellington's first time coaching on any level.
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Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night's game:
1. For starters:The Heat opened with a lineup of Goldin, Donaldson, Tre White, Cam Carter and J'Vonne Hadley.
Of those five, the only players under contract are Donaldson and Goldin, with their two-way deals.
Teams are allowed a maximum of three such spots during the regular season. The Heat's remaining two-way spot is vacant. Two-way contracts also can be swapped out at any time.
2. Night off:Given the night off was guard Jahmir Young, who scored 30 points in Thursday night's loss to the Toronto Raptors ' summer roster.
Young remains without a contract, free to sign with any team, including a two-way deal with another team.
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"It was just a night off for Jahmir." Ellington said. "He left it all out on the floor last night. He earned his night off."
Previously shut down by the Heat were Trevor Keels (knee), Myron Gardner (ankle) and second-round pick Ryan Conwell (hip).
Keels is without a contract, with Gardner with a $500,000 guarantee for next season and Conwell on a second-round contract.
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3. Still going:Donaldson again showed why the Heat moved quickly to sign him after he went undrafted last month out of the University of Miami.
With so much of the scoring on the Heat summer roster given the night off, Donaldson helped set an early tone with seven points and four rebounds in his opening eight-minute stint.
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Donaldson has alternated during summer league between playing on and off the ball.
He closed 8 of 12 from the field, including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers.
He declined to sum up his summer league, leaving that to others.
"I'm not evaluating," he said. "I'm just trying to show that I belong. I'm a kid that's been doubted for a long time. But I just lead my team and I win. That's the biggest thing."
4. Another Tre:While Young sat a night after his 30-point effort, White was back a night after scoring 19.
The forward who went undrafted out of Kansas, after previously playing at Southern Cal, Louisville and Illinois, again made sure he was noticed, with an active, aggressive performance, closing with 21 points.
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"He's got all the intangibles," Ellington said. 'He's got the size. He's got the shooting ability. He's got the IQ. So he's a guy that is going to continue to get better.
"I look forward to see what he can do in his future."
Leading the Heat off the bench was Ezra Ausar, the undrafted forward out of Southern Cal, who closed with 15 points and six rebounds, and Meechie Johnson, the undrafted guard out of South Carolina, who scored 13 and added four assists.
5. Up next:It's now off until the Heat hold their media day at Kaseya Center on Sept. 28, with training camp opening the following day.
