Fighting through a stomach illness, Dion Waiters took the court on Monday night with a depleted Miami Heat roster, to face off against the Atlanta Hawks. The 30th game of the Heat’s 30th season, the contest was a chance for the Heat to reach two games over .500 for the first time since 2015-16.
Just as important as maintaining a winning record, this game presented an opportunity for some of the Heat’s deep-bench players, namely Jordan Mickey and Derrick Walton Jr. In keeping with the team effort preached by head coach Erik Spoelstra, both Mickey and Walton entered the game by the mid-point of the first quarter.