Heat changes up lineup, shuts down Beal and gets much-needed blowout win vs. Wizards
For at least one night, the Miami Heat was right again.
It took another starting lineup change, a monster opening quarter from Bam Adebayo and a rare dud from Bradley Beal, but the Heat snapped a two-game losing streak to some of the worst teams in the NBA by doing what it’s supposed to do when it faces an opponent like the Washington Wizards: It won 122-95.
Miami’s new starting lineup set the pace by opening on a 17-9 run. Adebayo helped the Heat build the lead to 40-27 at the end of the first quarter by scoring 15 points and going 11 of 11 at the free-throw line. By halftime, Miami led 71-43 and Beal missed all 12 shots he attempted in the first half at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Two days after blowing a 13-point second-half lead to the last-place Wizards, the Heat (8-14) secured its first double-digit win in more than a month.
Adebayo finished with 21 points. Beal managed just seven on 1-of-14 shooting. With its most complete performance since early January, Miami won for just the fourth time in its last 14 games.
Tyler Herro, coming off the bench for the first time this season, scored 17 points. Fellow guard Kendrick Nunn, who didn’t play at all in the last three games, added 21. All-Star forward Jimmy Butler continued to play well, too, and scored 14 points with eight rebounds and nine assists in his fourth game back after missing nearly three weeks, while going through the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols last month. The Heat shot 49.4 percent and 43.2 percent from three.
It started with the new starting group, though. It was Spoelstra’s 15th different starting look this season and it inserted guard Goran Dragic in place of Herro. On his first possession, Dragic finished a reverse layup. On his second, he pushed the pace and fired Butler a bounce pass from midcourt, although Washington center Robin Lopez blocked the All-Star forward’s layup attempt from behind. For Miami’s third possession, Dragic ran a pick and roll, and found post player Kelly Olynyk in the left corner for a three-pointer to put the Heat ahead 5-3.
Miami never trailed again. Dragic hit a three with 8:02 left in the first quarter to put the Heat ahead 14-9 and the lead grew to 17-9 before Spoelstra made his first substitution. Miami’s starters opened 5 of 9 from the field, 2 of 5 from three-point range and 5 of 6 at the line.
Dragic, starting for the first time in six games, scored nine points before exiting with an ankle injury in the second half. X-rays on his left ankle came back negative, the team announced.
Once the starters were out, a new-look bench unit kept building the lead. Wing Avery Bradley injured his calf Wednesday and could miss a month, so the Heat went with Herro, Nunn, and forwards Andre Iguodala and Precious Achiuwa as the first four off the bench, playing with Robinson, and they maintained Miami’s 13-point lead until the its All-Stars reentered. Herro scored 10 of his points in the first half — including back-to-back threes late in the first quarter to force the Wizards (5-14) out of their zone defense — and Nunn scored 15 of his, going 6 of 8 from the field and 2 of 4 from deep.
Defensively, the Heat sold out to slow down Beal and the All-Star wing started off 0 of 13 and scored just four points in the first half in Miami.
It was a needed performance for the Heat, which remains two games out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference with more than a quarter of the season done. Miami finishes its five-game homestand with a losing record, but a climb from rock bottom has to begin somewhere.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 10:24 PM.
