The Miami Heat opened the second half on Friday with a 115-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks despite playing with a depleted roster.
After closing out the first half with a pair of losses, Miami headed into the break with its regular starting lineup mostly intact. That changed during the All-Star break as Chris Bosh is indefinitely out of action with a reported blood clot issue. Dwyane Wade was also unavailable in this one due to a sore knee.
In addition to the injuries, the Heat were without Hassan Whiteside who was serving a one-game suspension. The young center had been punished for a flagrant foul in a recent game against San Antonio.
With three regulars unavailable, Miami turned to Gerald Green, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Justise Winslow for the start. The Heat had only nine players available and they used all nine for solid minutes. It took a team effort to battle for the win, and came down to the final minutes of play to decide Friday's winner.
Josh McRoberts played his most minutes of the season with 30 minutes off the bench. McRoberts contributed 19 points and ten assists in one of his finer games since joining Miami before last season. With Bosh likely to miss significant time, McRoberts should continue to see increased minutes going forward.
Luol Deng had easily the best game of any of Miami's starters with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Deng was very efficient with his 11-17 shooting and also added three steals along the way.
Miami will try to make it two wins in a row when it hosts the Washington Wizards on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
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Courtesy of our news partners at NBCMiami.com.
