How Norman Powell’s love of basketball has led to easy transition with Heat
MIAMI – As the Miami Heat got a huge win over the New York Knicks, 115-107, one of the many standout performances was from newcomer Norman Powell, putting together a nice start for his latest team. After
In the home opener win over the Knicks, Powell led Miami with 29 points on seven of 15 shooting from the field, three of six from deep, to go along with 12 made free throws. Not to mention, he had seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals, having an impact in the impressive victory for the team.
Despite the statsheet, Powell was in sync with his new teammates throughout the game, with him saying to ClutchPoints that he's felt “comfortable since day one” since he is “super low maintenance.”
“I work really hard on my game, and I feel like, honestly, what makes the transition so easy with any of my my traits and new teams and things like that, is just, I've been in every single role, so being prepared and knowing and I'm a student of the game, I watch, I study,” Powell said.
“Watch opposing teams. I watched this team a lot when I wasn't even on the team, I love the game of basketball,” Powell continued. “I work really hard, so the game becomes easy when you're anticipating what the opposing team is going to do and how they're going to guard you and where your spots are going to be.
Heat's Erik Spoelstra on how Norman Powell is “crafty”
If there is one thing Powell has done well so far, it's fit with the Heat's new style on offense in playing up-tempo
Powell was one of the engines in making quick baskets, but was also key in slowing the game down when the Knicks were starting to gain momentum, as shown by the 12 free throws made. Head coach Erik Spoelstra
“He's a crafty, veteran, skilled offensive talent,” Spoelstra said. “And that is a very good defensive team. So if you're just trying to run normal actions, they've got great wing defenders, they blow up screens, they prevent you from coming off screens. So he just finds a way to get in a bunch of random situations. And I just think that’s, those are the hardest guys to scout and scheme for.”
“He had some in transition, he had some on broken plays, he had some where he just would create something out of nothing,” Powell continued. “And that's a credit to his skill level. I know that he really spent a lot of time working on his skill and being able to manage, you know, great defenders and great defenses. You know, his ability also to get to the free throw line or draw fouls on some of his threes, that can kind of get him going too as well.”
Powell and Miami look to keep the winning ways flowing as the team next takes on the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night.
Ben Johnson Calls Out Bears Player Leaders After Loss to Ravens
Following another penalty-filled game for the Chicago Bears, head coach Ben Johnson is putting the onus on the player leadership to resolve the problem.
The Bears were penalized 11 times for 79 yards in Sunday’s 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, committing double-digit penalties for a second straight game and the third time this season as their four-game winning streak came to a self-inflicted end.
Afterward, Johnson harped on the penalties as a key reason behind their ugly loss.
“The penalties, to me, are what stand out, first and foremost,” Johnson said in Sunday’s postgame. “We still have some of the pre-snap issues. There’s occasional not getting lined up quite right. There’s occasional not getting the motion quite right. That stuff adds up, and it hurts us. We get away with it occasionally, but it’s just not the way you win in this league.”
Johnson also called out the “leaders” in the Bears locker room, challenging them to take it upon themselves to emphasize the issue with penalties and stop letting it hurt them.
“I really put it on the leaders there in that locker room to get this ship going the right direction in that regard,” Johnson continued. “Us coaches, we’ve been pounding that drum now for a while, and we haven’t gotten the results we wanted, so it’s on the leaders here on this team to get us right.”
Bears Have 5th-Most Penalties Called Against Them
A high volume of penalties has been a key issue for the Bears in the first half of 2025.
The Bears have committed at least eight penalties in six of their first seven games and have yet to finish a game with fewer than six. Following Week 8’s loss, they sit tied with the New York Giants for the fifth-most penalties called against them (64) and have the fourth-most pre-snap penalties (26), which has severely hindered the offense.
Other penalties have also impeded the Bears’ progress on offense, such as quarterback Caleb Williams‘ two intentional grounding calls that went against him in Sunday’s loss. It amounts to a sloppy football team, one that will find it increasingly more difficult to compete in the NFC North if it is unable to sort out its frequent run-ins with penalties.
“I think we’ve just got to emphasize it more,” Williams said about fixing the penalties after Sunday’s game. “I think being able to emphasize it more, talk about it more, figure it out, is where we’re at. Just find a solution on why and find a solution to stop it, because it’s hurting us as an offense and hurting us as a team.”
Can Bears Rally if They Correct Issues With Penalties?
The penalties are killing the Bears. It is why Sunday’s loss to the Ravens felt like a kick in the teeth, because their self-inflicted errors were the difference between 4-3 and 5-2.
If the Bears can figure out those issues — and that’s a big if — there is still time for them to turn their 2025 season into something more than just a small step forward.
The Bears are third in the NFC North behind the Green Bay Packers (5-1-1) and Detroit Lions (5-2), but they will have opportunities to catch up to them in the next few weeks against two opponents — the Cincinnati Bengals (3-5) and the Giants (2-5) — who have done more losing than winning in the first half of the regular season.
Additionally, the Bears still have four division games left on the schedule, including both of their matchups with the Packers. They are 0-2 in that department after back-to-back losses to the Minnesota Vikings (Week 1) and Lions (Week 2) to start the season, but a more disciplined team could exact revenge and make the playoff race interesting.
The Bears will face the Bengals at 1 p.m. ET next Sunday, November 2.
