Jimmy Butler sprains ankle as Heat falls to 0-2 on trip. Takeaways from loss to Lakers
The night definitely did not go as planned for the Miami Heat.
In a game that included a Jimmy Butler sprained ankle, foul trouble for centers Bam Adebayo and Dewayne Dedmon and first-half minutes for seldom-used Udonis Haslem and Omer Yurtseven, the Heat (7-4) fell to the Los Angeles Lakers 120-117 in overtime on Wednesday night at Staples Center.
It was a close game throughout that included 33 lead changes and 14 ties. Neither team was able to build a double-digit lead.
“It was just a wild game from start to finish,” Adebayo said.
The Lakers (7-5) pulled ahead by five with 1:55 left in overtime and the Heat attempted to mount a comeback but missed free throws proved costly.
Duncan Robinson was fouled on a three-point attempt, but only made one of three free throws to cut the Lakers’ lead to four. Then Adebayo was fouled on an and-one layup and missed the ensuing free throw to keep Los Angeles’ lead at two with 23 seconds to play.
The Lakers then made a mistake of their own with a turnover on a five-second violation to give the ball back to the Heat with 18.7 seconds left.
On the next possession, Tyler Herro missed a contested three with nine seconds remaining in overtime that would have given the Heat a one-point lead.
After Carmelo Anthony made one of two free throws to extend the Lakers’ lead to three, Herro had one final opportunity but missed a relatively open three that would have tied the game with 4.2 seconds left in overtime.
“The first one, I felt like it was a good look,” Herro said of his two three-point attempts late in overtime. “I probably could have gotten a better one. Me and Kyle [Lowry] talked about probably getting me to my left hand as opposed to my right. Then second shot, great look. I make that shot nine times out of 10. It is what it is. Move on, learn from it.”
It looked like the Heat was in position to win in regulation, though, ahead by nine points with 4:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.
However, a wild fourth period led to the overtime finish.
Los Angeles responded to Miami’s nine-point advantage with a 15-4 run to take a two-point lead with 27.4 seconds to play. On the next possession, P.J. Tucker ran in from the corner to convert a tip-in dunk to tie the score at 112 with 23.5 seconds left and push the game into overtime.
“For the most part in a really competitive fourth quarter like that, I thought we did enough to put ourselves in a position to win and we just couldn’t close it out,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Adebayo (28 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and six steals) and Herro (27 points) led the Heat. Lowry finished with 18 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 2-of-10 shooting on threes, six rebounds and 11 assists.
Without Butler, Adebayo was dominant in the second half after playing just seven minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Adebayo totaled 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and five steals in the final two quarters of regulation and the overtime period.
“Next man up. Jimmy went down, so next man up. Coach called 13,” Adebayo said of taking on a bigger offensive role in the second half.
That wasn’t enough, though, with the Lakers hitting a season-high 18 threes on Wednesday. Los Angeles outscored Miami 54-30 from deep.
Lakers guard Malik Monk, who averaged 26.3 points on 61.4 percent shooting against the Heat as a member of the Charlotte Hornets last season, again killed the Heat. Monk finished Wednesday’s win with a team-high 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting on threes.
Monk entered averaging just seven points per game this season.
Lakers star Anthony Davis recorded 24 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. Russell Westbrook turned in his third triple-double performance of the season with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists.
The Heat is now 0-2 to begin its five-game West Coast trip.
The Heat completes its first-ever back-to-back set in Los Angeles on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center (10:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and NBA TV). Miami has played the Lakers and Clippers in consecutive games three previous times but with a day off between, never on consecutive nights like this season.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Lakers:
Unfortunately for the Heat, Jimmy Butler watch now begins.
Butler played the entire first quarter Wednesday but did not play a single second the rest of the way because of a sprained right ankle.
Butler totaled seven points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 shooting from the foul line, one assist and two steals in the first quarter before exiting the game.
With the Heat playing again Thursday against the Clippers, his status for that content is certainly in question.
Spoelstra didn’t have an update on Butler after Wednesday’s game.
“We’ll just have to wait and see [Thursday],” Spoelstra said.
Butler entered Wednesday averaging team highs in points and steals, and ranked second in rebounds and assists per game.
Butler missed two games early last season with a sprained right ankle and then two more games in mid-April with a sprained right ankle.
Herro started the second half in p;ace of Butler on Wednesday.
With Adebayo and Dedmon battling foul trouble, Haslem and Yurtseven received first-half minutes.
Adebayo was called for his third foul with 10:23 left in the second quarter and Dedmon was called for his third foul about a minute later with 9:26 left in the second quarter.
“I don’t even want to talk about that first half,” Adebayo said. “I think it’s crazy to me that two of our bigs got three fouls in the first half.”
That’s when Haslem, 41, was called on. He entered the game with 9:26 left in the second quarter and scored two points in a stint that lasted 5:05.
Haslem shot 1 of 2, making a 14-foot baseline jumper for his only points of the night.
It was a rare appearance for Haslem, as Wednesday marked just the third game since the start of the 2019-20 season that Haslem has played first-half minutes in. Haslem has appeared in just 32 games since the start of the 2017-18 campaign.
When Haslem exited the game, Yurtseven entered in his place to play the final 4:21 of the first half. He recorded three points and one rebound while holding his own defensively.
It marked the first meaningful minutes in Yurtseven’s NBA career, as his previous seven appearances this season came late in either blowout wins or losses.
“They both gave us something different,” Spoelstra said. “Of course, UD play him whatever minutes and he’s going to draw a charge. There’s going to be some skirmishes, three yards and a cloud of dust anytime that he’s around. He always just inspires everybody with those kind of intangible plays.
“Then O gave us some solid minutes. He was big. We needed that size against their frontline and that’s what we’ve said all year long. We feel our depth is one of our strengths and we had to go to it pretty deep into our bench tonight.”
Following the first half, Haslem did not play and Yurtseven only played the final 2.6 seconds of overtime.
While the Heat’s rotation was all over the place because of injuries and foul trouble, the Lakers also played shorthanded.
The Lakers had just 10 available players against the Heat.
The list of those unavailable for Los Angeles on Wednesday included Trevor Ariza (right ankle injury recovery), Talen Horton-Tucker (right thumb injury recovery), Jay Huff (G League), LeBron James (abdominal strain), Kendrick Nunn (right knee bone bruise), Austin Reaves (left hamstring strain) and Rajon Rondo (left hamstring strain).
Meanwhile, the Heat had 12 available players against the Lakers. Miami was without Marcus Garrett (G League), Markieff Morris (whiplash), Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) and Max Strus (left knee sprain).
With Strus and Morris out, Spoelstra turned to guard Gabe Vincent to step in as the Heat’s ninth man.
Spoelstra’s options to fill the role were Vincent, KZ Okpala, Yurtseven and Haslem. He went with Vincent, but Haslem and Yurtseven were eventually called into the game with Adebayo and Dedmon battling foul trouble.
It marked Vincent’s first meaningful minutes since he started in place of the injured Lowry against the Indiana Pacers in the second game of the season. Vincent finished Wednesday’s loss with four points and one steal in 13 minutes.
With the 6-3 Vincent playing in the rotation void left behind by the 6-9 Morris, the Heat used a smaller look against the Lakers. At one point in the second quarter, Miami went with a lineup that included four players who stand 6-5 or shorter in Herro, Lowry, Vincent and Caleb Martin.
The next challenge for the Heat is finding the energy to play on the second-night of a back-to-back.
In Wednesday’s overtime loss, Lowry logged 47 minutes, Robinson logged 45 minutes, Herro logged 42 minutes, Tucker logged 38 minutes and Adebayo logged 34 minutes.
A Clippers team that has won five straight awaits the Heat on Thursday, and Miami could also be without Butler.
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 1:10 AM.
