Takeaways from shorthanded Heat’s preseason win over Spurs behind Herro and Strus
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 109-105 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night at AT&T Center to improve to 3-0 this preseason:
Most of the Heat’s regulars played in Thursday’s preseason win over the Houston Rockets. But most of them did not play in Friday’s game against the Spurs.
On the second night of a back-to-back during the preseason, the Heat was without 12 of its 20 players.
The long list of those being held out of Friday’s game included Heat stars Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry. They missed the contest because of rest purposes after playing in the first half of Thursday’s win against the Rockets.
The Heat also held out Dewayne Dedmon (rest), Marcus Garrett (back spasms), Udonis Haslem (personal reasons), Caleb Martin (right ankle sprain), KZ Okpala (right Achilles inflammation), Victor Oladipo (right knee surgery rehabilitation), Dru Smith (right knee bruise), P.J. Tucker (rest) and Gabe Vincent (left groin strain).
“I don’t feel the need to play these guys in a back-to-back when we arrived after 3 a.m.,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have plenty of time. I like the progress that our team is making and [Thursday] was another good step forward, particularly if you get all those guys out there at the same time.”
That left the Heat with just eight players available for Friday’s game: Tyler Herro, Markieff Morris, Micah Potter, Duncan Robinson, Javonte Smart, DJ Stewart, Max Strus and Omer Yurtseven.
Friday marked Miami’s third of six preseason games. Following Friday’s contest, the Heat returns home to continue its preseason schedule on Monday against the Charlotte Hornets at FTX Arena.
The Heat will have to navigate another back-to-back before the preseason is over, with a matchup against the Hawks in Atlanta set for Thursday before a game against the Boston Celtics at FTX Arena on Friday. Miami is the only team in the NBA playing two back-to-backs during the preseason.
But a few projected rotation players for the Heat did play on the second night of the preseason back-to-back, and it was enough to win against a team that had most of its regulars.
Herro, who is expected to be used in a sixth man role this season, Robinson, who is a fixture in the starting lineup, and Morris and Strus, who are expected to be part of the bench rotation, all played Friday. They each appeared in both games of the back-to-back.
Herro and Strus led the Heat’s shorthanded offense.
Herro finished with 26 points on 12-of-25 shooting, two rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes in San Antonio.
“You’re just seeing the evolution of a very good basketball player,” Spoelstra said of Herro. “Extremely skilled and he’s really been working at his craft and the skill level, making different reads.”
Strus accounted for 28 points while shooting 9 of 18 from the field and 6 of 11 on threes in 36 minutes. He scored 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“He made some big threes and big plays down the stretch,” Spoelstra said of Strus. “He was able to make an impact offensively, whether the ball was coming to him or whether he was just spacing and creating space for somebody else.”
Robinson didn’t score and missed each of his five three-point attempts.
Morris produced five points on 2-of-6 shooting, seven rebounds and one block in 12 first-half minutes before he was given the second half off.
Yurtseven logged extended minutes for the first time this preseason and was solid.
With most of the Heat’s roster unavailable Friday, Yurtseven was relied on to play more minutes. The 23-year-old 7-footer finished Miami’s third preseason game with 14 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals in 23 minutes despite battling foul trouble for most of the night.
Yurtseven totaled 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and 0-of-2 shooting on threes, 12 rebounds and one assist in 28 minutes over the first two preseason games before being forced into a bigger role in San Antonio.
“He has great upside and he has really been working at it,” Spoelstra said. “I thought he was much better [Friday] and that was on both ends. He was eating up space defensively for us, really kept a lot of balls alive offensively, finished around the rim and he got into a better rhythm. But he had an impact on the game. That’s the most important thing.”
Yurtseven averaged an impressive 22.4 points on 50.6 percent shooting from the field and 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) shooting from three-point range, 11.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in five games with the Heat’s summer league team in August. The Heat rewarded Yurtseven with a guaranteed standard NBA contract for this season in the middle of that strong summer stretch.
Yurtseven will be on the Heat’s 15-man roster to begin the season. The question is: How much will Yurtseven actually play?
Playing time could be scarce for Yurtseven early on. Dedmon has solidified his role as Adebayo’s backup at center and Tucker and Morris also provide experienced frontcourt options.
The Heat’s other developmental players also had opportunities to play heavy minutes on Friday because of the shorthanded roster.
Of the Heat’s three Exhibit 10 players who got into the game, Potter stood out.
Potter, who went undrafted out of Wisconsin, finished with a double-double that included 13 points and 17 rebounds.
“He’s just steady, consistent with his work every single day,” Spoelstra said of Potter. “I really enjoy these moments for young players, when they get an opportunity to play and they’re prepared and then they play well. It’s not an accident or a coincidence. He’s put in a lot of time and he really hit the glass hard tonight. He was able to get a lot of in-traffic rebounds, pursued some balls that were out of his region.”
Smart scored 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting and dished out five assists. Stewart contributed eight points and six rebounds.
Exhibit 10 contracts include an invitation to training camp and usually a spot on the preseason roster. These deals also make it easier for the Heat to eventually move these players to its G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
“It’s huge,” Strus said of the extended playing time for the Heat’s developmental players. “We got a lot of Exhibit 10 guys and we don’t have many roster spots. So I’m happy for everybody that played today because they played awesome.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was effusive in his praise of Adebayo and Spoelstra after working with them this summer as part of Team USA.
Adebayo served as Team USA’s starting center in Tokyo, averaging 6.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 blocks during the national team’s six-game Olympic run to the gold medal.
“The best way to put it is that he was a joy in every way, shape and form,” Popovich said before Friday’s game of coaching Adebayo. “You know about his personality, how infectious it is. But I don’t think people realize what a great sense of humor he has. You can dig him and he’ll dig you back in the appropriate way. You can form a relationship with him that you really enjoy because of his humor.
“As far as being a player, his day-to-day perseverance was exemplary. It was a short period of time to form a team and he took advantage of every minute and helped us get there because of what he did, what he brought to practice, what he talked about in the locker room. He’s a no excuse guy. He just plays the game, he plays to win. His skills improve constantly.”
While Popovich was asked about his experience of working with Adebayo, he also made sure to include Spoelstra in his answer.
“I should also add that Spo was not invisible,” Popovich said. “A lot of people don’t realize that he coached the select team that we played against and practiced against. But his advice, his counsel in meetings, in postgame reports, in daily assessments of players was huge in trying to figure things out. How we had to put the team together and what was best for our group. He’s a tactician, but he also understands people and how to approach different personalities in different ways.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 10:47 PM.
