Takeaways from another Heat overtime win and another Bam Adebayo triple-double
It shouldn’t have come down to this for the Miami Heat, but it did.
After allowing a 24-point lead to slip away, the Heat (19-7) hung on to defeat the Mavericks 122-118 in overtime on Saturday at American Airlines Center. Miami is now 5-0 in overtime games this season.
Dallas outscored Miami 62-39 over the third and fourth quarters to rally from a 23-point halftime deficit and take a four-point lead with 1:08 to play in the fourth quarter. But Miami scored the final four points of regulation to force overtime.
In overtime, the Mavericks built another four-point lead with 3:04 to play. But the Heat scored the final eight points of the extra period to escape with the victory.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Mavericks (17-8) ...
1. The second night of back-to-back sets has been a struggle for the Heat to start the season, but at least Saturday ended with a win.
Miami entered with an 0-4 record on the second night of back-to-backs — Oct. 27 loss vs. Timberwolves, Nov. 8 loss vs. Lakers, Nov. 23 loss vs. 76ers and Dec. 4 loss vs. Celtics. Each one came on the road, with the Heat outscored by 17 points per game over the four losses.
But the Heat finally broke through in Dallas, rebounding from Friday’s home loss to the Lakers with a road win over the Mavericks for its first win of the season on the second night of a back-to-back.
“We needed a breakthrough,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve been playing horrible basketball on the second night of back-to-backs. Our approach was right. Not to make any excuses, not to be a victim, but to find a way to bring a different kind of energy. I saw that certainly in the first half, fourth quarter and overtime.”
The Heat started strong, taking a 23-point lead into halftime.
From there, Dallas really made Miami work for its first victory of the season on the second night of a back-to-back. The Mavericks’ ferocious second-half rally was enough to force overtime, with Miami shooting 31.7 percent and Dallas shooting 54.3 percent over the third and fourth quarters.
“The one benefit of having a game like this is there’s a lot of emotion. I love that,” Spoelstra said. “I love the anger, the guys spitting at each other, the competitiveness and all of it was with the right intentions. We need a whole lot more of that really to get to another level. We need more communication, we need more direct eye-to-eye and we need to hold each other accountable. I love the emotion. It’s not always going to be a bed of roses in this league, nor should it.”
As bad as the second half was for the Heat, that’s how good the first half was for Miami. The Heat shot 54.8 percent from the field and 63.2 percent (12 of 19) on threes to outscore the Mavericks 73-50 over the first two quarters.
It marked the fourth time this season the Heat has totaled more than 70 points in a first half. That’s a notable accomplishment, considering Miami scored more than 70 first-half points in just two regular-season games over the previous eight seasons.
With Saturday’s win, the Heat also avoided its first multi-game losing streak of the season. Miami is 7-0 after a loss through the first 26 games, and it’s already the longest into a season the Heat has not recorded consecutive losses in franchise history.
Jimmy Butler led the way for Miami with 27 points, four rebounds and seven assists. He scored 12 between the start of the fourth quarter and the end of overtime.
“Nobody wants to give up a lead the way we gave up a lead,” Butler said. “But all in all, it shows that when we do give up a lead, we can still win games.”
2. Of course, there will be somewhat of an asterisk on this win because the Mavericks lost star forward Luka Doncic to an ankle injury early in the game.
Doncic, a very early MVP candidate, hobbled to the locker room just 1:40 into the contest and didn’t return because of a sprained right ankle. He scored two points and grabbed one rebound before stepping on Heat guard Kendrick Nunn’s foot and rolling the ankle.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said after the game: “We hope it’s not serious. That’s about all we have for you. [His] X-rays were negative — that’s about all we have for you right now.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported after the game that Doncic suffered a “moderate ankle sprain.”
Doncic entered Saturday averaging 30.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and 9.3 assists this season. The Mavericks also entered with the league’s top offensive rating, with 117.1 points per 100 possessions, in large part because of Doncic’s ability to consistently create efficient offense for himself and others.
Without Doncic, the Mavericks used big performances from Tim Hardaway Jr. (28 points) and Kristaps Porzingis (22 points and 14 rebounds) to make it a competitive game against the Heat.
“They’re a good team even without Luka,” Butler said. “Our prayers up for him. I hate to see people go down, especially him with the year that he’s having. I was looking forward to the matchup.”
3. Bam Adebayo’s all-around game was again on display.
The Heat’s do-it-all 22-year-old big man finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He started his all-around effort in the first half, with eight points, seven rebounds and seven assists over the first two quarters.
It’s the second triple-double of Adebayo’s career and his second triple-double of the week. His first came in Tuesday’s overtime win over Hawks.
“He’s so great at finding the open man and he’s only getting better at it,” Butler said of Adebayo. “Myself, the coaches and the rest of the team, we trust him with the ball in his hands, early, late and anywhere in between. Obviously, he’s also our best rebounder. He’s a complete player. The crazy part about it is he’s only going to get better. That’s the exciting thing.”
Only eight NBA players have recorded multiple triple-doubles this season, and the Heat has two of them in Adebayo and Butler. Butler has already turned in three triple-double performances this season.
The other six players with multiple triple doubles: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Draymond Green, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Russell Westbrook.
But it wasn’t the triple-double that most impressed Spoelstra. It was Adebayo’s play down the stretch, like the huge offensive rebound Adebayo grabbed for a put-back dunk that gave the Heat a 119-118 lead with 1:15 to play in overtime. From there, Miami never trailed again.
“He was tremendous all game long and those are those winning plays,” Spoelstra said. “I love that fact that it’s a triple-double so people recognize it, but there are a lot of other things he does that don’t show up on a box score that helps you win. He got the proverbial game ball tonight and it is just good to get out of here with a win and move on.”
Over the last five games, Adebayo has averaged 21 points on 63.6 percent shooting, 12.2 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks.
While Adebayo is quickly earning a reputation as one of the top defenders in the NBA at his position, he’s also earning a reputation as of one of the best passing big men in the league. Adebayo is averaging the second-most assists in the NBA among centers at 4.6 per game, behind only Jokic (6.5 assists).
“My teammates were making shots tonight. I appreciate them for that,” Adebayo said when asked about his 10-assist performance against the Mavericks. “I encourage them to keep shooting. That’s my thing. That’s what we need for this team to work. We got shooters, and we need them to shoot the ball.”
Following Saturday’s game, Adebayo’s former Heat teammate Josh Richardson tweeted simply: “Bam is an All-Star.”
4. When it gets to overtime, the Heat just turns it on.
Not only has the Heat played in the most overtime games in the league up to this point of the season, but it has won all of them for a perfect 5-0 record in those games. Miami has outscored its opponent by a combined score of 64-25 in those five extra periods.
“That we always find a way to win,” Butler said of what he likes most from the Heat’s overtime performances. “Obviously, I wish that it could have ended in regulation. I wish we wouldn’t have lost the lead. But all in all, like coach said, we just always got to find a way.”
Want more stats that prove the Heat’s overtime dominance? In overtime this season, Miami has limited its opponents to 8 of 43 (18.6 percent) shooting and has outrebounded its opponents by a combined margin of 36-20.
The Heat has posted an absurd defensive rating of 47.2 in overtime. To put that into perspective, the top defense in the league this season, the Bucks, is allowing 101.5 points per 100 possessions.
The overtime Heat has been the best version of the Heat, so far.
5. The Heat was without four of its six highest-paid players in Dallas, which is really nothing new for this team.
Goran Dragic (right groin strain), Justise Winslow (lower back strain), James Johnson (personal reason) and Dion Waiters (suspension) were all unavailable on Saturday.
Dragic missed his seventh consecutive game with his groin injury, and the Heat’s hope is he’ll be able to return to action at some point over the next week. Winslow missed his fifth consecutive game with a back issue, and he has played in just 10 of the first 26 games due to various injuries. Both Dragic and Winslow didn’t travel with the team to Dallas. But the Heat didn’t rule out the possibility of Dragic and/or Winslow joining the team at some point during the three-game trip that continues Monday against the Grizzlies and ends Wednesday against the 76ers.
As for Johnson, he was in uniform for Friday’s loss to the Lakers but did not travel with the team to Dallas for personal reasons. Johnson has fallen out of the Heat’s rotation, as he has not played in nine consecutive games and has played a total of 10 minutes over the past 17 games. This comes after a turbulent start to the season, with Johnson away from the team for the first 10 days of training camp and the preseason after failing to meet the Heat’s conditioning requirements.
Waiters in unavailable for the entire trip because he’s serving his third team-issued suspension of the season. He is eligible to return after the Heat’s Dec. 23 home game against the Jazz.
With so many big contracts unavailable, it has put a spotlight on the value contracts the Heat has on its roster: Tyler Herro ($3.6 million salary this season), Adebayo ($3.5 million), Derrick Jones Jr. ($1.6 million), Nunn ($1.4 million) and Duncan Robinson ($1.4 million).
This story was originally published December 14, 2019 at 11:28 PM.
