How Jimmy Butler led the short-handed Heat past the Pelicans and other takeaways from the win
The Miami Heat didn’t have Bam Adebayo or Kyle Lowry. But the Heat did have Jimmy Butler and that was enough on Wednesday night.
Butler returned from a three-game absence to lead the short-handed Heat (10-5) to a 113-98 win over the struggling New Orleans Pelicans (2-14) at FTX Arena. Miami has won three straight.
Butler, who missed the previous three games because of a sprained right ankle, dominated with a triple-double stat line that included 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and one block in 37 minutes. It’s the 12th triple-double of Butler’s NBA career and his eighth triple-double as a member of the Heat.
Butler’s production was needed with Adebayo (left knee bruise) and Lowry (rest) unavailable on Wednesday.
The Heat trailed by as many as 15 points early in the second quarter, but outscored the Pelicans 23-13 over the final 10:29 of the period to trim the deficit to just five entering halftime.
“In the second quarter, we just simplified it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The ball was just hitting Jimmy’s mitts and then we were playing off of him.”
Miami carried that momentum into the third quarter to take its first lead of the game at 65-64 with 7:28 remaining in the period.
From there, the Heat rolled to outscore the Pelicans 34-18 in the third quarter and enter the fourth ahead by 11 points.
The Pelicans never regained their footing, as they made just five of their final 28 three-point attempts after starting 5 of 7 from deep on Wednesday. The Heat led by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter.
“We obviously were not defending in the first quarter the way we’re capable of and that’s not taking anything away from them,” Spoelstra said. “They came out sharp and they scrambled us and knocked down a bunch of threes in the beginning. That kind of sped us up offensively and so we weren’t getting to coherent triggers or actions.
“We defended much better in the second quarter and then obviously in the second half.”
Heat veteran and team captain Udonis Haslem contributed quality minutes during the Heat’s third-quarter surge. He finished the win with two points, three rebounds, one assist and one block in seven minutes.
Tyler Herro scored 19 points and dished out five assists for Miami.
The Heat is right back at it Thursday against the Washington Wizards at FTX Arena (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) to complete the home back-to-back set.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Pelicans:
Butler continues to play some of the best basketball of his NBA career.
After missing the past three games with a sprained right ankle, Butler was back in the Heat’s starting lineup on Wednesday.
With Adebayo and Lowry out, Butler was relied on to play the entire first quarter. He recorded 10 points, four rebounds and three assists in the period.
Butler then rested for the first 4:42 of the second quarter and played the final 7:18 of the period. He scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the period.
At halftime, Butler had 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, 1-of-1 shooting on threes and 4-of-6 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and three assists. The rest of the Heat’s roster combined for 26 points on 31.3 percent shooting in the first two quarters.
Butler tallied 10 points, five rebounds and seven assists in the second half to complete the triple-double.
Butler is averaging a career-high 24.3 points on a career-best 53 percent shooting, to go with 5.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.9 steals this season.
The only players who have finished a season averaging at least 24 points on 53 percent shooting or better, five rebounds, five assists and 1.5 steals are Michael Jordan and LeBron James. They each did it in three separate seasons.
“He’s just in great shape and he’s really prepared this season like none of us were able to really prepare last year with the quick turnaround,” Spoelstra said of Butler. “He really had some time to rest, recover and then really put in the time, which he did.”
Herro started slow, but came alive in the second half.
Herro missed his first six shots and scored just two points on 1-of-7 shooting and committed three turnovers in the first two quarters.
But Herro was able to find a rhythm to score 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting in the second half.
Herro, 21, was so hot that he accidentally made a three-pointer from 43 feet out near half court on what was intended to be an alley-oop pass to Butler with 4:46 remaining in the third quarter.
“When I threw it, I thought it was a good pass,” Herro said of the play. “Then I realized it was too strong and I thought it would hit off the rim, but it fell in for me. I was surprised it went in.”
The Heat relied on forward KZ Okpala to play meaningful minutes for the second straight game.
With starting power forward P.J. Tucker called for his second foul just 1:05 into the opening quarter and the Heat already playing short-handed, Okpala was subbed in for Tucker as the first bench player to enter the game.
But Okpala was then called for his second foul with 1:30 left in the first quarter, forcing Spoelstra to take him out of the game.
When Tucker picked up his third foul with 5:36 left in the first half, Okpala again entered in his place. But Okpala was subbed out just about a minute later after passing up on a three-point attempt at the end of the shot clock and missing his fourth three-pointer of the night
Okpala, 22, did not play again until the final minute of the game with the Heat already in control. He finished scoreless.
These past two games have included rare appearances for Okpala, who played in just six of the Heat’s 14 games. This two-game stretch has also represented his first meaningful minutes of the season because his first five appearances came in the fourth quarter of either blowout wins or losses.
With Okpala as the sixth man on Wednesday, the depleted Heat used an unusual bench rotation that again included Haslem.
Miami dealt with foul trouble and was without three usual rotation players in Adebayo, Lowry and Markieff Morris.
That led Spoelstra to use a bench rotation of Okpala, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Omer Yurtseven and Haslem against the Pelicans. Among that group, only Strus has been a regular in the Heat’s rotation this season.
It marked Haslem’s fourth appearance of the season and second in the last five games. He played in just one game last season and five games over the last two seasons.
Haslem, 41, was even the Heat’s first bench player to enter in the second half.
Haslem was on the court for most of Miami’s third-quarter run. He recorded two points, three rebounds, one assist, one block and a drawn charge in the quarter.
“Obviously, when I get an opportunity to go out there and play, I can’t just talk about it, I got to be about it,” Haslem said. “So for me, I try to preach to my guys that I am who I really say I am and I want those guys to be who they say they are every night we step on the floor.”
The Heat has played a lot of road games during a busy start to its schedule, and the team is working to make sure its top players get enough rest and fully recover from nagging injuries.
Adebayo missed his second straight game because of a lingering left knee bruise and Lowry got the night off for rest purposes against the Pelicans.
Adebayo, 24, has been dealing with a bruised knee for more than two weeks and also missed the Heat’s road win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Oct. 30 because of the injury.
When asked how the time off has helped Adebayo’s bruised knee, Spoelstra said before Wednesday’s game: “Really beneficial. What he has needed more than anything is just rest and treatment just to get the swelling down and calm it down. Then when he resumes again, he’ll be padded. The way he plays, he’s physical. You just hope that when he collides with people that there will be a collision on that pad and not anywhere else.”
Lowry, 35, got the night off after playing in 12 straight games. The only other game he missed this season was because of a sprained left ankle in an Oct. 23 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
“The schedule is pretty intense,” Spoelstra said Wednesday. “I mentioned that while we were on the road trip and then those back-to-back games [in Los Angeles], we were going for the win in both of those and then had a quick turnaround for that Utah game and then obviously finishing up that road trip. We’ll manage the schedule throughout the year when we feel it’s necessary. We’re not pre-determining things. But there are certain parts of the schedule that are a little bit more intense.”
Wednesday marked the fifth game in a stretch that includes six games in nine days.
Also, nine of the Heat’s first 14 games came on the road. In total, 26 of Miami’s first 42 games come away from home.
Morris (whiplash) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) also remained out for the Heat on Wednesday.
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 10:00 PM.
