Heat not ‘100 percent satisfied’ with 2-3 trip, but there are ‘positive things to take away’
The Miami Heat experienced a wide range of emotions during its five-game West Coast trip.
There was anger after Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic shoved an unsuspecting Markieff Morris in the back during the first game of the trip last week. There was some fear and anxiety when Heat star Jimmy Butler turned his right ankle during the first quarter of the Heat’s second game of the trip. There was frustration after consecutive three-point losses on back-to-back nights in Los Angeles. And in the end, there was a sense of triumph after closing the trip on Monday night with a 103-90 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder despite playing without starting center Bam Adebayo and Butler.
After an 0-3 start, Miami won two in a row to close the trip at 2-3. That’s not the record it was hoping for when it entered the five-game stretch with a 7-2 record, but it’s all relative to the adversity the Heat (9-5) faced along the way.
“I think we’re not 100 percent satisfied with the record,” guard Kyle Lowry said, with the Heat returning to Miami for a quick two-game homestand that begins Wednesday against the New Orleans Pelicans (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “But we played harder every game from one to five.
“Also, getting these last two wins with Jimmy getting some rest and Bam tonight getting some rest and getting right. Just kind of figuring things out. Every night we played, we just continued to get better as a group and find ways to grow together.”
The Heat defeated the Utah Jazz on Saturday without Butler, who missed the last three games of the trip because of a sprained right ankle. The hope is that Butler will be able to return when the Heat hosts the Pelicans on Wednesday.
The Heat then earned a win over the Thunder on Monday without Adebayo because of a lingering left knee bruise and without Butler. Coach Erik Spoelstra said the team decided to sit Adebayo because “he hasn’t had any opportunity for it to really get better” with the busy game schedule and noted that “he hasn’t gotten worse, but he hasn’t gotten better.”
In addition, Miami did not have Morris for the final four games of the trip as he recovers from whiplash stemming from Jokic’s shove.
Adebayo, Butler, Dewayne Dedmon (right groin strain) and Marcus Garrett (right wrist tendinitis) are all listed as questionable for Wednesday’s matchup against the Pelicans. Morris and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) remain out.
“I think we learned a lot,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said when asked to reflect on the team’s week-long stretch away from home. “Starting the way we started, we came out flat against Denver and had two games in L.A. where we were up double digits and could have won but lost. So good teams, you have to learn from those experiences. We were able to hang tough and win two games here to close it out. Definitely some positive things to take away. We’re still growing and we’re still learning.”
Among the positives to take away from the trip entering Tuesday:
▪ The Heat returns home with the NBA’s fourth-best offensive rating, ninth-best defensive rating despite and second-best net rating despite playing a league-high nine of its first 14 games on the road. The only team that holds a better net rating than the Heat is the Golden State Warriors, which has played just four road games so far. The Heat and Warriors are also the only two teams in the NBA with both a top-10 offense and defense this season.
▪ Tyler Herro’s efficient offensive play continued even on the road. Herro, 21, is averaging 21.9 points while shooting 46.1 percent from the field, 39.4 percent from three-point range and 86.8 percent from the foul line this season. Herro is one of just seven NBA players averaging at least 20 points while shooting at least 45 percent from the field and 39 percent on threes. The others are Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Atlanta’s Trae Young, New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram, Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes.
▪ Robinson seemed to snap out of his early season shooting slump toward the end of the trip. Robinson shot 11 of 23 (47.8 percent) on threes during the last two games after making 9 of his 32 (28.1 percent) three-point attempts during the first three games of the trip. Robinson is now shooting 34.1 percent on a career-high 9.4 three-point attempts per game this season.
But there were issues that popped up for the Heat during the trip, especially in fourth quarters.
Miami allowed a lead to slip away late in Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center, as the Heat led by nine points with 4:45 remaining in the fourth quarter of that defeat.
The Heat also allowed the Jazz to rally late. Utah scored 18 unanswered points late in the fourth quarter to trim the Heat’s lead from 22 to four points in the final seconds before Miami ultimately closed the door.
The Thunder tried to put together a late run on Monday, too, cutting the Heat’s 18-point lead with 7:12 remaining in the fourth quarter down to eight with 2:36 to play. But that was the closest Oklahoma City got, as Miami responded with a quick 8-0 run to pull ahead by 16 on its way to the win.
“This road trip was really important for us to be able to go through these shared experiences of close games, game management, learning how to find different ways to win on the road,” Spoelstra said following Monday’s victory in Oklahoma City. “So it feels like really the last four games were all similar situations and I think we just felt a lot more comfortable and more confident as our team should. The more times you’re in those experiences, the more times you’re able to find solutions.”
The Heat found enough solutions over the last two games to salvage the road trip even while playing short-handed.
“You’re only as good as your last game and we continued to get better,” Herro said. “We dropped three to start the trip, but I thought we played well in those games. We put ourselves in a position at the end of the game to get the win and we just didn’t execute. So I think this road trip was good for us. It was our first real road trip and we were able to get some things out of it and I loved the way we ended it with two wins.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 11:43 AM.
