Takeaways from the Heat’s win over Timberwolves, and what it means for East playoff race
The inconsistent Miami Heat appears to be surging at the right time.
With the start of the playoffs just two weeks away, the Heat (36-31) defeated the rebuilding Minnesota Timberwolves 121-112 on Friday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Miami is 8-3 in its last 11 games.
The victory also moved the Heat into sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings, with the Boston Celtics losing to the Chicago Bulls on Friday to drop to seventh place.
“Just need to find this groove, start stringing together these dubs and get in a rhythm,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said. “I think that’s what this whole thing is about, playing your best basketball at the right time. We need to start doing that right now.”
The Heat got Butler (flu-like symptoms) and Tyler Herro (right foot soreness) back Friday and both played important roles against the Timberwolves (20-47).
Butler, who missed Tuesday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, finished with 25 points with the help of 11-of-14 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals.
Herro, who missed the previous six games, scored a team-high 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting on threes in 29 minutes in his return.
The Heat started slow, with the Timberwolves leading by as many as 11 points in the first quarter. But Miami entered halftime ahead by five and never trailed in the second half to earn the much-needed win.
The Heat, which led by as many as 14 points, shot 50.6 percent from the field and 13 of 32 (40.6 percent) on threes. The Timberwolves shot an inefficient 10 of 37 (27 percent) from three-point range.
Butler and Herro weren’t alone. Heat veteran guard Goran Dragic was also impressive, with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting on threes, four rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.
With Dragic and Herro leading the way, Miami’s bench outscored Minnesota’s reserves by a lopsided margin of 57-19
Center Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 27 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Next on the Heat’s schedule are two of the most important games of the season: Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night matchups against the Celtics at TD Garden. Both Miami and Boston are battling to avoid the play-in tournament.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Timberwolves:
With just five games remaining in the regular season, the Heat jumped from seventh to sixth place in the East standings.
The Heat’s win and the Celtics’ loss on Friday night moved Miami ahead of Boston. The No. 6 Heat now stands one game ahead of the No. 7 Celtics (35-32).
The Heat is just one-half game behind the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks (37-31), which do not play again until Monday. The Hawks own the head-to-head tiebreaker because they won the season series over the Heat 2-1.
The Heat is also just one game behind the No. 4 New York Knicks (37-30), which fell to the Phoenix Suns on Friday. Miami owns the tiebreaker over New York after sweeping the season series.
The Heat is three games ahead of the No. 8 Charlotte Hornets (33-34)
Next up for the Heat are two massive games against the Celtics at TD Garden on Sunday and Tuesday, which will play a big part in deciding which team has to participate in the play-in tournament. If the Heat wins both games in Boston, it’s almost assured of avoiding the play-in tourney.
The play-in tournament, which will be held between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, includes the teams with the seventh-highest through the 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference.
Herro returned from injury and provided a much-needed boost off the Heat’s bench.
After missing six straight games with a sore right foot, Herro made his return Friday. He was used in his usual bench role and finished with more than 25 points on fewer than 15 shots for just the second time in his NBA career and the first time this season.
Herro didn’t waste any time in making his presence felt, entering the game with 3:25 left in the first quarter and scoring 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from deep in a 10-minute stint — his first game action in two weeks.
With Herro back, the Heat’s bench rotation included Dragic, Dewayne Dedmon, Andre Iguodala, and Herro. Two-way contract wing Max Strus, who had played in five of the previous six games, did not play with Herro again in the mix.
It has been an up-and-down sophomore NBA season for Herro, who entered averaging 14.9 points on 42.7 percent shooting from the field and 34.4 percent shooting on threes, 4.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 48 games (14 starts).
While Herro and the Heat would like the efficiency to improve, Herro has certainly provided a scoring punch off the bench.
Among those around the league who have played in at least 30 games off the bench this season, Herro entered Friday ranked fifth in scoring average as a reserve (13.9 points per game). Only Utah’s Jordan Clarkson (17.4 points), Orlando’s Terrence Ross (15.7 points), Dallas’ Tim Hardaway Jr. (15.1 points), and New York’s Derrick Rose (14.1) are averaging more points per game off the bench than Herro.
If Herro, 21, can remain healthy and consistently provide efficient scoring off the bench, it could be a game-changer for the Heat’s streaky offense.
“Mentally, I feel good. I feel confident again. I’m just excited to be back on the court,” Herro said of returning from injury.
Speaking of game-changers, Dragic continued his best stretch of the season and teamed up with Herro to lead the Heat’s impressive bench effort.
Including Friday’s standout performance, Dragic, who turned 35 on Thursday, is averaging 17.4 points while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 39.3 percent on threes, 3.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists in his past five games. The Heat has outscored opponents by 33 points with the veteran guard on the court during this stretch.
“It’s not an exact science,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of managing Dragic’s minutes and availability throughout the season to preserve his body for this part of the schedule and playoffs. “You try to manage everything the best that you can. Goran is a great competitor. So when the context and pressure and meaning of games become more, that’s typically when he plays his best basketball. So he can sense that right now. And then also when he’s healthy and has his legs under him, he’s an All-Star player. So we’ve been trying to manage that all year long.”
With Dragic and Herro on the court together Friday, the Heat outscored the Timberwolves by 18 points in 26 minutes. Nine of those minutes came without Bam Adebayo and Butler on the court, and Miami won that stretch 22-17.
If Dragic and Herro can help the Heat survive non-Adebayo-and-Butler minutes moving forward, that would be a pretty important development. Miami has been outscored by a total margin of 139 points when it has been without both Adebayo and Butler on the court this season, according to NBA WOWY.
The Heat’s two-day break leading into Friday’s game did not include a practice, but Spoelstra said it was still productive.
Following Tuesday’s home loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the Heat took both Wednesday and Thursday off from practice. It marked Miami’s final two-day break of the regular season.
“I think we had two really productive days,” Spoelstra said before Friday’s game. “One day was rest, treatment and for some of the guys just to get away in what has been a very busy schedule. And then yesterday, we were able to get some work done with film and a team meeting and then player development, treatment.”
The Heat plays its final six games of the regular season in a span of 10 days, a stretch that began Friday against the Timberwolves.
This marked the Heat’s first win over the Timberwolves since November 2017, and Minnesota expressed their frustration with the officiating following Friday’s game.
Miami’s recent lack of success against Minnesota is surprising, considering the Timberwolves have made the playoffs just once since the 2004-05 season.
Friday’s win snapped Miami’s five-game losing skid to Minnesota. The Timberwolves won the teams’ first matchup of the season 119-111 on April 16 at Target Center.
For Minnesota, coach Chris Finch, guards Ricky Rubio and D’Angelo Russell, and Towns all picked up technical fouls in Friday’s loss. Russell was ejected in the third quarter after earning his second technical.
“Until we start winning at a consistent level, maybe we won’t get some of the whistles we think we deserve,” Finch said. “We just have to stay focused, play harder, play tougher. What frustrated me the most is the inconsistency.”
This story was originally published May 7, 2021 at 10:42 PM.
