Takeaways from Heat’s loss to Nets, and why Spoelstra came away from 1-3 trip encouraged
The Miami Heat’s four-game trip ended with a third straight loss, but coach Erik Spoelstra came away ... encouraged.
How is that possible? Sometimes the process says more than the result, especially when a team is without multiple key contributors.
The Heat was without Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Avery Bradley, among others. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets had its all-world trio of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving on the court.
But the shorthanded Heat (6-10) still kept it very competitive through the first three quarters before ultimately falling to the Nets 98-85 on Monday at Barclays Center. Miami finished its four-game trip with a 1-3 record.
“I’m seeing some progress,” Spoelstra said after Monday’s defeat. “That’s the discipline right now this season is to focus on our team, the process and not this result right now. Everybody is disappointed about the overall record, but you see improvement.”
The Heat entered the fourth quarter with a one-point lead, but seemed to wilt down the stretch. Brooklyn (11-8) outscored Miami 28-14 in the fourth quarter.
Harden scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. The two other members of Brooklyn’s Big 3, Durant (20 points on 6-of-21 shooting, 13 rebounds and five assists) and Irving (16 points on 6-of-17 shooting, eight rebounds and four assists) combined to score 36 points on 31.6 percent shooting Monday.
The Heat led by as many as eight points in the contest, and held the Nets’ potent offense to a season-low 41 first-half points on 34.9 percent shooting.
Monday’s result came two nights after the undermanned Heat finished just short of upsetting the Nets in a 128-124 loss that came down to the final seconds on Saturday.
Maybe the most encouraging development for the Heat is the fact that there were times center Bam Adebayo looked like the best player on a court that also featured Durant, Harden and Irving.
Adebayo finished Monday’s loss with 26 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and one block in 35 minutes.
“I think this was a very productive road trip,” Spoelstra said. “I just like this group. I like the competitiveness. I like the way this group has responded on this road trip. I told the team, they’re like a bunch of Navy SEALs. You just drop them into the city regardless of what the circumstances are, our guys are going to go out there and do a job. But the most important thing is I’m seeing our team get better.”
The Heat now returns to Miami to begin a six-game homestand on Wednesday against the Denver Nuggets.
“Like coach said, I see us trending in the right direction,” Adebayo said. “We’re just down bodies, man. ... For six straight, we gotta get those at home. We’re at the bottom of the East right now. It doesn’t look right being down there. It’s on us to fix that.”
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Nets:
Another reason for the Heat to be encouraged after a 1-3 trip? It looks like help is finally on the way.
Butler and Bradley are expected to rejoin the team this week. Butler and Bradley both missed their eighth consecutive game on Monday because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Bradley, who is an important part of Miami’s bench rotation, said during a recent appearance on Chris Haynes’ Yahoo Sports podcast that he hopes to return for Wednesday’s game against the Nuggets at AmericanAirlines Arena. Bradley also disclosed on the “Posted Up” podcast that he has been unavailable for the past two weeks because he tested positive for COVID-19.
Bradley noted that he recently resumed workouts, meaning he has cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
As for Butler, there was optimism that Butler would clear the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Monday to resume basketball activity, according to a league source. Butler is a few days behind Bradley when it comes to clearing protocols.
The timetable for Butler’s return to game action will depend on his conditioning after two weeks away from the court. The Heat’s next six games come at home: Wednesday vs. Nuggets, Thursday vs. Los Angeles Clippers, Saturday vs. Sacramento Kings, Monday vs. Charlotte Hornets, Feb. 3 vs. Washington Wizards and Feb. 5 vs. Wizards.
Miami was also without forward Moe Harkless (left thigh contusion), Herro (neck spasms), and centers Meyers Leonard (left shoulder strain) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain) on Monday.
How did Adebayo follow up his career-high 41-point performance? With another big night.
Adebayo again came out with an aggressive approach to finish Monday’s loss with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, five assists and one block.
Similar to his 41-point masterpiece in Saturday’s loss to the Nets, Adebayo scored in a variety of ways. He shot 6 of 14 on non-rim shots, including a three-point bank shot at the third quarter buzzer.
The midrange jumper continues to be a game-changing revelation, as Adebayo is shooting 56 of 109 (51.4 percent) on non-rim shots this season. He shot 37.4 percent on those shots last regular season.
“Here’s my question about Bam. If I asked you which year has he improved the most, you would have a tough time answering that,” Spoelstra said. “He continues to exponentially improve every single season. As good as he was last year as an All-Star, he has improved 10x on top of that. You’re looking at a superstar right now.”
Without two of the Heat’s primary scorers in Butler and Herro, Adebayo averaged 33.5 points on 61.5 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and seven assists during Miami’s two-game regular-season “series” in Brooklyn.
“This road trip, we utilized his skill set in every which way possible you can imagine, and that’s on both ends of the court,” Spoelstra said. “... He’s a beast. He works his [butt] off and that hasn’t changed. If anything, he’s working harder now that he has gotten a contract.”
Both teams struggled to make threes on Monday, but Heat guard Goran Dragic was hot.
Dragic finished with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 shooting on threes. The rest of the Heat’s roster combined to shoot 5 of 34 from three-point range.
Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, who has shot 41.9 percent on 8.5 three-point shot attempts per game this season, made just 1 of 10 threes in Monday’s loss. It marked the fewest amount of made threes Robinson has finished a game with in his NBA career when attempting 10 or more shots from behind the arc.
Heat guard Kendrick Nunn finished 1 of 8 on threes and center Kelly Olynyk missed all five of his three-point shot attempts.
“Offensively, what’s crazy is I thought it was one of our better execution and more thoughtful games,” Spoelstra said. “We just couldn’t get the ball to go in.”
Meanwhile, the Nets shot 40 percent from the field and 11 of 38 (28.9 percent) on threes. Brooklyn shot just 5 of 27 from deep in the first three quarters.
This was an uncharacteristic performance from Brooklyn, which owns the NBA’s fourth-best offensive rating and third-best team three-point percentage.
Durant shot 3 of 12 and Irving shot 1 of 4 on threes.
With the Heat missing six players, second-year forward KZ Okpala made the third start of his NBA career.
Okpala, 21, started alongside Dragic, Robinson, Olynyk and Adebayo.
Okpala finished with just three points on 1-of-3 shooting from deep, one rebound and one assist in 21 minutes. But he had some impressive moments on the defensive end, as he was tasked with defending Harden to begin the game and also found himself on Durant and Irving at times.
“Everybody’s happy for him because he has been putting in a lot of work, and he had an impact on the game,” Spoelstra said of Okpala. “These are three of the most elite offensive skilled players in the league and he was either guarding Harden or guarding Durant when we were in man. Or at the top of the zone, guarding all three of them. He loves that kind of challenge. He’s developing as a young player. I’ve seen great progress with him, so that’s definitely a bright spot.”
How about two of the Heat’s biggest problem areas to begin this season — turnovers and rebounding? They weren’t huge problems on Monday.
Miami entered Monday averaging the second-most turnovers in the NBA at 17.7 per game and with the league’s highest turnover rate (percentage of plays that end with a team turnover) at 17.3 percent.
In Monday’s loss, the Heat committed 14 turnovers — a manageable number that Miami would like to get down to.
When it comes to rebounding, the Nets outrebounded the Heat 49-45. But Miami grabbed eight offensive rebounds to six for the Nets.
The Heat finished with a combined total of only six offensive rebounds in its previous two games.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 9:57 PM.
