Defense leads Heat to its largest comeback since 2015. Winslow, Adebayo, Dragic impress
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 131-126 overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday at Fiserv Forum ...
1. Just when it looked like the Heat were on its way to a blowout loss, a comeback happened. What led the turnaround? The Heat’s defense.
Down by 21 with 10:58 remaining in the third quarter, the Heat went on to outscore the Bucks 78-52 the rest of the way. Miami’s defense was especially strong in the fourth quarter and overtime, limiting Milwaukee to 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) shooting and forcing seven turnovers during that 17-minute span.
It marks Miami’s largest comeback since overcoming a 21-point deficit against the Houston Rockets on Nov. 1, 2015 and its largest road comeback since overcoming a 27-point deficit against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 20, 2013.
“That’s what this team is built on,” Heat do-it-all forward Justise Winslow said. “That toughness defensively, being able to make plays you don’t think is possible.”
The defense from center Bam Adebayo and Winslow was the talk of the locker room following the game. In addition to their defense, Winslow finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, and Adebayo recorded 19 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
“What can you say about Justise and Bam?,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Those defensive plays that they made down the stretch, very few in this league can make those kind of plays. As inspiring as I’ve seen anybody wearing these Miami Heat uniforms. It was just tremendous winning basketball.”
Adebayo’s chase-down block on Eric Bledsoe to prevent what looked to be an easy transition layup with 13.7 remaining in overtime drew praise from his coach and teammates.
“Bam’s block is one of the best plays that I’ve seen,” Spoelstra said. “Tracking him down 90 feet, you’re talking about a really fast explosive guard that he tracked down.”
One of the keys to the Heat’s victory was to control the Bucks from three-point range. Miami didn’t do that in the first half with Milwaukee making 14 threes over the first two quarters, but the Bucks were limited to just three threes over the rest of the game.
The Heat didn’t necessarily stop Bucks forward and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists. But Miami did help to force him into eight turnovers.
What makes the Heat’s defensive performance even more impressive was that it came without arguably its top defender Jimmy Butler, who missed Saturday’s game because of the birth of his daughter. Also, the Bucks are a quality offensive team, as it finished last season with the league’s fourth-best offensive rating and returned most of the core from that roster.
The Heat knows it can be an elite defensive team this season. Miami is aiming for a top-five defensive rating this season. Through two games, the Heat owns the fifth-best defensive rating in the NBA.
“They are the anchors of our defense,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo and Winslow. “We get Jimmy in here, we feel that we can be a good defensive team.”
2. Goran Dragic has accepted the bench role, and it’s worked so far for him and the Heat.
After finishing Saturday’s win with a team-high 25 points to go with six rebounds and eight assists in 35 minutes, Dragic is averaging 22 points on 44 percent shooting, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in 29.8 minutes through two games.
It’s early, but Dragic already looks like one the NBA’s top scoring threats off the bench. His average of 22 points is tied for third among reserve players with New York Knicks guard Allonzo Trier, behind only Detroit Pistons guard Derrick Rose (22.5 points) and Charlotte Hornets guard Devonte’ Graham (23.5).
“It’s not easy to do what he’s doing,” Spoelstra said of Dragic’s transition to a reserve role. “Just because he and I had a conversation about this and Goran is such a great guy and he’s such an unbelievable teammate. That doesn’t mean that anybody is volunteering to come off the bench. It takes an incredibly stable and big picture thinking player like a Goran or a Dwyane Wade to be able to see how this can work.”
Dragic’s play off the bench was a major factor in the Heat’s comeback, as he scored 15 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Miami outscored Milwaukee by nine points during that span.
Dragic, 33, said his goal is to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award. That goal doesn’t seem unrealistic after what he has done to start the season.
“This will be a way, hopefully, that not only can we keep him fresh in the fourth quarter,” Spoelstra said. “But keep him fresh in March, April, May and then extend his career. This is about protecting both of us. Otherwise, I’ll run him into the ground. I’ll play him 40 minutes. I trust him. I’ve been through the battles with him.”
3. Tyler Herro, who is from the Milwaukee area, returned home in just his second NBA game. He finished with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting and five rebounds in 32 minutes.
When introduced as a starter, the Milwaukee crowd gave the Heat rookie a mixed reaction with some boos and cheers. Other than representing the opponent on Saturday, there’s still some mixed feelings regarding Herro because he decommitted from Wisconsin as a top high school prospect to attend Kentucky.
Former Wisconsin basketball player Sam Dekker tweeted his take on the crowd’s reaction to Herro: “If you’re in Milwaukee right now and you boo’d Tyler Herro getting announced as a starter in his 2nd career NBA game, you’re a miserable person. The kid lived out his dream, there’s more to life than a recruit not going to your favorite school. Embrace a hometown kid.”
Herro said he didn’t notice the crowd’s reaction to his introduction before the game.
“I didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest,” Herro said. “But I was happy, though.”
While Herro enjoyed being back home, he didn’t enjoy the cold weather.
“I got used to the Miami weather,” Herro said.
Fellow Heat rookie guard Kendrick Nunn was solid again, with 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting, four rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes before fouling out with 2:41 to play in regulation. Nunn’s 42 total points to start the season is tied with Willie Burton (1990) for the most by a Heat player in his first two NBA games.
4. Free-throw shooting is still somewhat of a concern for the Heat, apparently.
The Heat finished last season with the league’s worst team free-throw percentage at 69.5 percent.
The Heat’s hope was that those free-throw shooting struggles were in the past after trading center Hassan Whiteside and adding quality free-throw shooters like Herro and Butler this past offseason.
But those struggles popped up again Saturday, with the Heat making just 23 of its 36 free throws (63.9 percent) against the Bucks. Winslow was 2 of 6 and Dragic was 9 of 15 at the foul line.
Miami missed 10 free throws between the fourth quarter and overtime, which nearly cost it the game.
5. Just like in Wednesday’s season opener, the Heat only had 12 available players Saturday. And that includes both of Miami’s two-way contract players, forward Chris Silva and guard Daryl Macon.
The Heat have opened the season without three of its six highest-paid players — Butler, James Johnson and Dion Waiters. They did not travel with the team on its current two-game trip, which ends Sunday against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis.
Butler is away from the team after the birth of his daughter earlier this week. Johnson is still working on his conditioning and Waiters is not expected to rejoin the Heat until Monday after serving his one-game suspension in Wednesday’s opener for conduct detrimental to the team.
Forward Udonis Haslem has missed the start of the season with a sprained left wrist. Haslem traveled with the Heat to Milwaukee, but he was not available to play.
Also, forward Derrick Jones Jr. exited Saturday’s game with 9:46 remaining in the fourth quarter because of a left groin strain, and he did not return. His availability for Sunday’s game against the Timberwolves is still undetermined, but he is traveling with the team to Minneapolis.
If Jones can’t play, the Heat could be forced to take on the Timberwolves with only 11 available players.
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 10:55 PM.
