Chris Bosh and Luol Deng were far and away the best players on the floor in last night's win over the Kings. Who else had a good night?
I used the GameScore metric available at www.basketball-reference.com to ascertain who were the best players in last night's win over Sacramento.
First Star
Chris Bosh (MIA) 26.9 (NBA seventh)
Bosh led all players with 38:59 on the court and with 30 points. He made 11-of-20 shots from the field, including all three three-point attempts. He also made five-of-six free throws and a game-high plus-13 rating. He had seven rebounds, three assists, three steals, a blocked shot, a turnover and a single personal foul.
Tonight's win was more about committing to holding a good offensive team to 83 points. That's a talented offensive team and we were really trying to get after it. - HEAT coach Erik Spoelstra
Second Star
Luol Deng (MIA) 24.8 (NBA ninth star)
Deng made 11-of-18 shots from the field, and two-of-four from three-point range for 25 points on the night. He made one-of-two from the line with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. He also closed up shop with a plus-10 rating, and somehow managed to finish with zero fouls and zero turnovers.
Third Star
Shabazz Napier (MIA) 10.1
Napier has continued to impress in his third tour of duty with the HEAT. The now starting point guard didn’t really blow anyone out of the water with his shooting touch last night, going three-for-11 and one-of-three from deep. he made five-of-six from the stripe with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block to go along with his 12 points. He earned a plus-10 rating with three turnovers and a foul.
Fourth Star
Derrick Williams (SAC) 9.0
Williams played 33:14 last night, and was one of five Kings to finish in double figures, with 10 points (which ranked fifth on the team). He sunk five-of-11 shots, missing his only three-point attempt. He posted a game-worst-tying minus-16 rating, along with six rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Fifth Star
DeMarcus Cousins (SAC) 8.8
Cousins led the Kings with 17 points on the night, with a game leading 11 rebounds. He shot four-of-12 and made all nine of his free throws. He would add five assists, a steal, three fouls, and a minus-8 rating. His eight turnovers are the main reason he did not earn a higher gamescore.
Honorable Mention
Ray McCallum (SAC) 8.6
McCallum had the sixth highest gamescore, but played only 15 minutes for the Kings last night. In terms of GameScore over minutes played, he finished behind only Bosh and Deng. He came off the bench in the second quarter and made three-of-three from outside, and four-of-five overall to finish with 11 points. He had three rebounds and two assists, along with two turnovers and two fouls. He was also one of very few Kings to finish on the positive side of the plus-minus metric, at plus-3 on the night.
The Rest
Darren Collison (SAC) 8.6
Shawne Williams (MIA) 6.8
Udonis Haslem (MIA) 6.1
Mario Chalmers (MIA) 5.9
Ben McLemore (SAC) 5.4
Reggie Evans (SAC) 4.1
Hassan Whiteside (MIA) 3.5
Nik Stauskas (SAC) 2.2
Ryan Hollins (SAC) 2.0
Jason Thompson (SAC) 1.9
Norris Cole (MIA) 0.6
James Ennis (MIA) 0.6
Danny Granger (MIA) 0.5
Omri Casspi (SAC) -0.5
Miami's off until Tuesday night, when they'll host the Oklahoma City Thunder in Miami, FL. Continue to join us here at Hot Hot Hoops for all of your Heat news.