Takeaways from the Heat’s win to cap successful trip, and what was accomplished on the road
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 108-94 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder (12-19) on Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Heat stands at 14-17 this season:
The Heat’s seven-game West Coast trip was a success despite enduring a few painful losses along the way.
A winning record on a West Coast trip is always going to be considered a success. Miami posted a 4-3 record during the seven-game stretch away from home, which is tied for the longest road trip in franchise history and lasted almost two weeks.
“I’m so ready to get home,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “I want to see my mom. I want to see my little dog. I’m tired of using Uber Eats. It’s adding up. I’m ready to get a home cooked meal and get in my bed. I get to enjoy that coming off this W.”
The Heat began the trip with a 1-3 record, but closed it with three straight wins to return home feeling positive about what it accomplished on the road.
“I can definitely say we got better,” Adebayo continued. “I feel like it was one of those situations that it felt like the bubble again. We had a chance to really be cohesive and feel like brothers again. ... When we’re at home, we can’t really hang out with each other. So being able to be in the hotel and be safe, it feels like the bubble. We’re building that brotherhood again.”
The narrative changed fast for Miami on the trip after two especially painful losses.
The Los Angeles Clippers earned a 125-118 win over the Heat last Monday at Staples Center despite missing four starters, including the All-Star duo of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
And the Golden State Warriors rallied from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit for a 120-112 overtime win over the Heat on Wednesday. The Warriors were missing All-NBA defender Draymond Green and rookie James Wiseman, and were forced to start 6-6 Juan Toscano-Anderson at center.
But three consecutive wins later (Thursday over the Sacramento Kings, Saturday over the Los Angeles Lakers and Monday over the Thunder), the Heat finds itself just two games out of the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. Miami has five games remaining to play before reaching the All-Star break, with the next four games coming at home.
“You want to grow through your experiences,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Sometimes your experiences are tough, painful and that’s what we had at the start of this trip. But we came in the next day, the Sacramento walkthrough, it was all business. It was just about an approach to bounce back and do things better. We’ve started to defend with a little bit more consistency on this road trip.”
The Heat, which limited the Thunder to 40 points on 33.3 percent shooting in the second half, owns the eighth-best defensive rating in the NBA with 109.4 points allowed per 100 possessions. Miami allowed just 107.2 points per 100 possessions during the seven-game trip.
“I think we’ve grown a lot as a team, we’ve improved,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said of the trip. “We understand what it takes to win. I think that, obviously there are guys in the locker room that know that already. But collectively, I think we grew in that area this trip and really began to understand the importance of always having a sense of urgency no matter the circumstance, no matter the game, who we’re playing or when we’re playing or whatever.”
Heat stat Jimmy Butler said the Heat “played a little bit better defense, rebounded the basketball and all in all just played hard” during the 4-3 trip.
The first half was an offensive struggle for the Heat. But the second half was not.
The Heat entered Monday’s game with the NBA’s fifth-worst offensive rating, scoring 106.6 points per 100 possessions this season. And Miami was coming off a Saturday win over the Lakers in which it scored just 37 second-half points on 32.4 percent shooting in.
Those struggles carried over into the first half of Monday’s game.
The Heat scored 45 points on 35 percent shooting from the field and 6-of-21 shooting on threes in the first two quarters. As a result, Oklahoma City entered halftime with a 54-45 lead.
But the Heat’s offense came alive in the third quarter with 34 points on 55 percent shooting from the field, 4-of-6 shooting on threes and 8-of-8 shooting from the foul line. Miami’s efficient third quarter came despite eight turnovers in the period.
The Heat won the period 34-23 to enter the fourth quarter with a 79-77 lead.
Miami’s offense continued to trend in a positive direction in the fourth quarter, with 29 points on 52.4 percent shooting and zero turnovers.
The Heat outscored the Thunder 63-40 in the second half to run away with the win.
Robinson led the Heat’s second-half push with 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting on threes in the final two quarters. He finished with 22 points on 6-of-13 shooting from deep.
Butler shot just 3 of 11 from the field, but still managed to record 15 points with the help of 9-of-9 shooting at the foul line, four rebounds and nine assists. He didn’t have to play in the fourth quarter, with his teammates opening the period on a 15-0 run to take control of the game.
“I love to see it,” Butler said with two thumbs up when asked about watching the fourth quarter from the bench. “And I really do enjoy watching my teammates play, especially if I get to rest my body.”
Heat guard Kendrick Nunn contributed 20 points and tied a career-high with nine assists. He also finished with three steals and two blocks.
One of the Heat’s biggest weaknesses this season turned into a strength on Monday.
Miami entered with the NBA’s third-worst offensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available offensive rebounds a team grabs) at 23.1 percent and 10th-worst rebounding percentage at 49 percent this season. But the Thunder is one of the few teams in the league that has been struggled even more than the Heat in this area, entering with the worst offensive rebounding percentage and fifth-worst rebounding percentage.
The Heat took advantage and outrebounded the Thunder 45-38 to finish with seven more shot attempts than Oklahoma City.
Miami also turned 10 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points, compared to four second-chance points on five offensive rebounds for Oklahoma City. That 12-point margin proved critical.
Adebayo finished with 19 points and five assists, and grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds.
With Tyler Herro forced to miss Monday’s game because of a hip injury he sustained in Saturday’s win over the Lakers, the Heat was without three key guards against the Thunder.
Along with Herro (right hip contusion), the Heat remained without guards Avery Bradley (right calf strain) and Goran Dragic (left ankle sprain) in Oklahoma City. Centers Meyers Leonard (season-ending left shoulder surgery) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain) were also unavailable.
Herro, who recently moved into a bench role and has played as the Heat’s sixth man on the trip, did not play in the second half of Saturday’s win over the Lakers because of the hip injury he sustained in the first half. He was listed as questionable to play in Monday’s game before he was ruled out.
“I would have been surprised if he was able to go [against the Thunder] based on not being able to play in the second half the other night,” Spoelstra said Monday of Herro. “We’ll continue to evaluate him day to day. It is feeling a little better than it did yesterday, so that’s a good sign.”
Now, the attention turns to whether Bradley, Dragic or Herro will be able to return for the start of Miami’s four-game homestand Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors. Bradley and Dragic were not on the trip with the team.
The Thunder was also short-handed Monday, without starters George Hill (right thumb procedure) and Al Horford (rest). Oklahoma City was on the second night of a back-to-back set after defeating the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Sunday.
With three guards out, two-way contract wing Max Strus was the first player used off the Heat’s bench on Monday.
After missing all eight threes he attempted while playing in Herro’s place in the second half of Saturday’s win over the Lakers, Strus didn’t hesitate when entering Monday’s game.
Strus made his first-three-point attempt of the game and shot 1 of 4 from deep in the first quarter. He finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting on threes in 30 minutes off the bench, and even took a charge during the Heat’s third-quarter run.
Miami’s bench rotation on Monday included Strus, Gabe Vincent, Precious Achiuwa, Andre Iguodala and KZ Okpala. Vincent and Okpala played seven minutes and two minutes, respectively.
This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 11:26 PM.
